The Lost Princess of Oz

Published：2026-07-31 20:14:16 Source: best robot figures under 100 dollars Author: Father Day Gifts Kids

THE LOST PRINCESS OF OZ

by L. FRANK BAUM

This Book is best fantasy figures for 12 year olds under 100 dollarsDedicated
To My Granddaughter
OZMA BAUM

To My Readers

Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations. This pleasesme. Imagination has brought mankind through the Dark Ages to its present stateof civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination ledFranklin to discover electricity. Imagination has given us the steam engine,the telephone, the talking-machine and the automobile, for these things had tobe dreamed of before they became realities. So I believe that dreams—daydreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain-machinerywhizzing—are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginativechild will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to create, to invent,and therefore to foster civilization. A prominent educator tells me that fairytales are of untold value in developing imagination in the young. I believe it.

Among the letters I receive from children are many containing suggestions of“what to write about in the next Oz Book.” Some of the ideas advanced aremighty interesting, while others are too extravagant to be seriouslyconsidered—even in a fairy tale. Yet I like them all, and I must admit that themain idea in “The Lost Princess of Oz” was suggested to me by a sweet littlegirl of eleven who called to see me and to talk about the Land of Oz. Said she:“I s’pose if Ozma ever got lost, or stolen, ev’rybody in Oz would be dreadfulsorry.”

That was all, but quite enough foundation to build this present story on. Ifyou happen to like the story, give credit to my little friend’s clever hint.

L. Frank Baum
Royal Historian of Oz

LIST OF CHAPTERS

THE LOST PRINCESS

CHAPTER 1
A TERRIBLE LOSS

There could be no doubt of the fact: Princess Ozma, the lovely girl ruler ofthe Fairyland of Oz, was lost. She had completely disappeared. Not one of hersubjects—not even her closest friends—knew what had become of her. It wasDorothy who first discovered it. Dorothy was a little Kansas girl who had cometo the Land of Oz to live and had been given a delightful suite of rooms inOzma’s royal palace just because Ozma loved Dorothy and wanted her to live asnear her as possible so the two girls might be much together.

Dorothy was not the only girl from the outside world who had been welcomed toOz and lived in the royal palace. There was another named Betsy Bobbin, whoseadventures had led her to seek refuge with Ozma, and still another named Trot,who had been invited, together with her faithful companion Cap’n Bill, to makeher home in this wonderful fairyland. The three girls all had rooms in thepalace and were great chums; but Dorothy was the dearest friend of theirgracious Ruler and only she at any hour dared to seek Ozma in her royalapartments. For Dorothy had lived in Oz much longer than the other girls andhad been made a Princess of the realm.

Betsy was a year older than Dorothy and Trot was a year younger, yet the threewere near enough of an age to become great playmates and to have nice timestogether. It was while the three were talking together one morning in Dorothy’sroom that Betsy proposed they make a journey into the Munchkin Country, whichwas one of the four great countries of the Land of Oz ruled by Ozma. “I’venever been there yet,” said Betsy Bobbin, “but the Scarecrow once told me it isthe prettiest country in all Oz.”

“I’d like to go, too,” added Trot.

“All right,” said Dorothy. “I’ll go and ask Ozma. Perhaps she will let us takethe Sawhorse and the Red Wagon, which would be much nicer for us than having towalk all the way. This Land of Oz is a pretty big place when you get to all theedges of it.”

So she jumped up and went along the halls of the splendid palace until she cameto the royal suite, which filled all the front of the second floor. In a littlewaiting room sat Ozma’s maid, Jellia Jamb, who was busily sewing. “Is Ozma upyet?” inquired Dorothy.

“I don’t know, my dear,” replied Jellia. “I haven’t heard a word from her thismorning. She hasn’t even called for her bath or her breakfast, and it is farpast her usual time for them.”

“That’s strange!” exclaimed the little girl.

“Yes,” agreed the maid, “but of course no harm could have happened to her. Noone can die or be killed in the Land of Oz, and Ozma is herself a powerfulfairy, and she has no enemies so far as we know. Therefore I am not at allworried about her, though I must admit her silence is unusual.”

“Perhaps,” said Dorothy thoughtfully, “she has overslept. Or she may be readingor working out some new sort of magic to do good to her people.”

“Any of these things may be true,” replied Jellia Jamb, “so I haven’t dareddisturb our royal mistress. You, however, are a privileged character, Princess,and I am sure that Ozma wouldn’t mind at all if you went in to see her.”

“Of course not,” said Dorothy, and opening the door of the outer chamber, shewent in. All was still here. She walked into another room, which was Ozma’sboudoir, and then, pushing back a heavy drapery richly broidered with threadsof pure gold, the girl entered the sleeping-room of the fairy Ruler of Oz. Thebed of ivory and gold was vacant; the room was vacant; not a trace of Ozma wasto be found.

Very much surprised, yet still with no fear that anything had happened to herfriend, Dorothy returned through the boudoir to the other rooms of the suite.She went into the music room, the library, the laboratory, the bath, thewardrobe, and even into the great throne room, which adjoined the royal suite,but in none of these places could she find Ozma.

So she returned to the anteroom where she had left the maid, Jellia Jamb, andsaid:

“She isn’t in her rooms now, so she must have gone out.”

“I don’t understand how she could do that without my seeing her,” repliedJellia, “unless she made herself invisible.”

“She isn’t there, anyhow,” declared Dorothy.

“Then let us go find her,” suggested the maid, who appeared to be a littleuneasy. So they went into the corridors, and there Dorothy almost stumbled overa queer girl who was dancing lightly along the passage.

“Stop a minute, Scraps!” she called, “Have you seen Ozma this morning?”

“Not I!” replied the queer girl, dancing nearer. “I lost both my eyes in atussle with the Woozy last night, for the creature scraped ’em both off my facewith his square paws. So I put the eyes in my pocket, and this morningButton-Bright led me to Aunt Em, who sewed ’em on again. So I’ve seen nothingat all today, except during the last five minutes. So of course I haven’t seenOzma.”

“Very well, Scraps,” said Dorothy, looking curiously at the eyes, which weremerely two round, black buttons sewed upon the girl’s face.

There were other things about Scraps that would have seemed curious to oneseeing her for the first time. She was commonly called “the Patchwork Girl”because her body and limbs were made from a gay-colored patchwork quilt whichhad been cut into shape and stuffed with cotton. Her head was a round ballstuffed in the same manner and fastened to her shoulders. For hair, she had amass of brown yarn, and to make a nose for her a part of the cloth had beenpulled out into the shape of a knob and tied with a string to hold it in place.Her mouth had been carefully made by cutting a slit in the proper place andlining it with red silk, adding two rows of pearls for teeth and a bit of redflannel for a tongue.

In spite of this queer make-up, the Patchwork Girl was magically alive and hadproved herself not the least jolly and agreeable of the many quaint characterswho inhabit the astonishing Fairyland of Oz. Indeed, Scraps was a generalfavorite, although she was rather flighty and erratic and did and said manythings that surprised her friends. She was seldom still, but loved to dance, toturn handsprings and somersaults, to climb trees and to indulge in many otheractive sports.

“I’m going to search for Ozma,” remarked Dorothy, “for she isn’t in her rooms,and I want to ask her a question.”

“I’ll go with you,” said Scraps, “for my eyes are brighter than yours, and theycan see farther.”

“I’m not sure of that,” returned Dorothy. “But come along, if you like.”

Together they searched all through the great palace and even to the farthestlimits of the palace grounds, which were quite extensive, but nowhere couldthey find a trace of Ozma. When Dorothy returned to where Betsy and Trotawaited her, the little girl’s face was rather solemn and troubled, for neverbefore had Ozma gone away without telling her friends where she was going, orwithout an escort that befitted her royal state. She was gone, however, andnone had seen her go. Dorothy had met and questioned the Scarecrow, Tik-Tok,the Shaggy Man, Button-Bright, Cap’n Bill, and even the wise and powerfulWizard of Oz, but not one of them had seen Ozma since she parted with herfriends the evening before and had gone to her own rooms.

“She didn’t say anything las’ night about going anywhere,” observed littleTrot.

“No, and that’s the strange part of it,” replied Dorothy. “Usually Ozma lets usknow of everything she does.”

“Why not look in the Magic Picture?” suggested Betsy Bobbin. “That will tell uswhere she is in just one second.”

“Of course!” cried Dorothy. “Why didn’t I think of that before?” And at oncethe three girls hurried away to Ozma’s boudoir, where the Magic Picture alwayshung. This wonderful Magic Picture was one of the royal Ozma’s greatesttreasures. There was a large gold frame in the center of which was abluish-gray canvas on which various scenes constantly appeared and disappeared.If one who stood before it wished to see what any person anywhere in the worldwas doing, it was only necessary to make the wish and the scene in the MagicPicture would shift to the scene where that person was and show exactly what heor she was then engaged in doing. So the girls knew it would be easy for themto wish to see Ozma, and from the picture they could quickly learn where shewas.

Dorothy advanced to the place where the picture was usually protected by thicksatin curtains and pulled the draperies aside. Then she stared in amazement,while her two friends uttered exclamations of disappointment.

The Magic Picture was gone. Only a blank space on the wall behind the curtainsshowed where it had formerly hung.

CHAPTER 2
THE TROUBLES OF GLINDA THE GOOD

That same morning there was great excitement in the castle of the powerfulSorceress of Oz, Glinda the Good. This castle, situated in the QuadlingCountry, far south of the Emerald City where Ozma ruled, was a splendidstructure of exquisite marbles and silver grilles. Here the Sorceress lived,surrounded by a bevy of the most beautiful maidens of Oz, gathered from all thefour countries of that fairyland as well as from the magnificent Emerald Cityitself, which stood in the place where the four countries cornered. It wasconsidered a great honor to be allowed to serve the good Sorceress, whose artsof magic were used only to benefit the Oz people. Glinda was Ozma’s most valuedservant, for her knowledge of sorcery was wonderful, and she could accomplishalmost anything that her mistress, the lovely girl Ruler of Oz, wished her to.

Of all the magical things which surrounded Glinda in her castle, there was nonemore marvelous than her Great Book of Records. On the pages of this Record Bookwere constantly being inscribed, day by day and hour by hour, all the importantevents that happened anywhere in the known world, and they were inscribed inthe book at exactly the moment the events happened. Every adventure in the Landof Oz and in the big outside world, and even in places that you and I havenever heard of, were recorded accurately in the Great Book, which never made amistake and stated only the exact truth. For that reason, nothing could beconcealed from Glinda the Good, who had only to look at the pages of the GreatBook of Records to know everything that had taken place. That was one reasonshe was such a great Sorceress, for the records made her wiser than any otherliving person.

This wonderful book was placed upon a big gold table that stood in the middleof Glinda’s drawing room. The legs of the table, which were incrusted withprecious gems, were firmly fastened to the tiled floor, and the book itself waschained to the table and locked with six stout golden padlocks, the keys towhich Glinda carried on a chain that was secured around her own neck. The pagesof the Great Book were larger in size than those of an American newspaper, andalthough they were exceedingly thin, there were so many of them that they madean enormous, bulky volume. With its gold cover and gold clasps, the book was soheavy that three men could scarcely have lifted it. Yet this morning whenGlinda entered her drawing room after breakfast, the good Sorceress was amazedto discover that her Great Book of Records had mysteriously disappeared.

Advancing to the table, she found the chains had been cut with some sharpinstrument, and this must have been done while all in the castle slept. Glindawas shocked and grieved. Who could have done this wicked, bold thing? And whocould wish to deprive her of her Great Book of Records?

The Sorceress was thoughtful for a time, considering the consequences of herloss. Then she went to her Room of Magic to prepare a charm that would tell herwho had stolen the Record Book. But when she unlocked her cupboard and threwopen the doors, all of her magical instruments and rare chemical compounds hadbeen removed from the shelves. The Sorceress has now both angry and alarmed.She sat down in a chair and tried to think how this extraordinary robbery couldhave taken place. It was evident that the thief was some person of very greatpower, or the theft could not have been accomplished without her knowledge. Butwho, in all the Land of Oz, was powerful and skillful enough to do this awfulthing? And who, having the power, could also have an object in defying thewisest and most talented Sorceress the world has ever known?

Glinda thought over the perplexing matter for a full hour, at the end of whichtime she was still puzzled how to explain it. But although her instruments andchemicals were gone, her KNOWLEDGE of magic had not been stolen, by any means,since no thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is whyknowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire. Glinda believed that whenshe had time to gather more magical herbs and elixirs and to manufacture moremagical instruments, she would be able to discover who the robber was and whathad become of her precious Book of Records.

“Whoever has done this,” she said to her maidens, “is a very foolish person,for in time he is sure to be found out and will then be severely punished.”

She now made a list of the things she needed and dispatched messengers to everypart of Oz with instructions to obtain them and bring them to her as soon aspossible. And one of her messengers met the little Wizard of Oz, who was seatedon the back of the famous live Sawhorse and was clinging to its neck with bothhis arms, for the Sawhorse was speeding to Glinda’s castle with the velocity ofthe wind, bearing the news that Royal Ozma, Ruler of all the great Land of Oz,had suddenly disappeared and no one in the Emerald City knew what had become ofher.

“Also,” said the Wizard as he stood before the astonished Sorceress, “Ozma’sMagic Picture is gone, so we cannot consult it to discover where she is. So Icame to you for assistance as soon as we realized our loss. Let us look in theGreat Book of Records.”

“Alas,” returned the Sorceress sorrowfully, “we cannot do that, for the GreatBook of Records has also disappeared!”

CHAPTER 3
THE ROBBERY OF CAYKE THE COOKIE COOK

One more important theft was reported in the Land of Oz that eventful morning,but it took place so far from either the Emerald City or the castle of Glindathe Good that none of those persons we have mentioned learned of the robberyuntil long afterward.

In the far southwestern corner of the Winkie Country is a broad tableland thatcan be reached only by climbing a steep hill, whichever side one approaches it.On the hillside surrounding this tableland are no paths at all, but there arequantities of bramble bushes with sharp prickers on them, which prevent any ofthe Oz people who live down below from climbing up to see what is on top. Buton top live the Yips, and although the space they occupy is not great inextent, the wee country is all their own. The Yips had never—up to the timethis story begins—left their broad tableland to go down into the Land of Oz,nor had the Oz people ever climbed up to the country of the Yips.

Living all alone as they did, the Yips had queer ways and notions of their ownand did not resemble any other people of the Land of Oz. Their houses werescattered all over the flat surface; not like a city, grouped together, but setwherever their owners’ fancy dictated, with fields here, trees there, and oddlittle paths connecting the houses one with another. It was here, on themorning when Ozma so strangely disappeared from the Emerald City, that Caykethe Cookie Cook discovered that her diamond-studded gold dishpan had beenstolen, and she raised such a hue and cry over her loss and wailed and shriekedso loudly that many of the Yips gathered around her house to inquire what wasthe matter.

It was a serious thing in any part of the Land of Oz to accuse one of stealing,so when the Yips heard Cayke the Cookie Cook declare that her jeweled dishpanhad been stolen, they were both humiliated and disturbed and forced Cayke to gowith them to the Frogman to see what could be done about it. I do not supposeyou have ever before heard of the Frogman, for like all other dwellers on thattableland, he had never been away from it, nor had anyone come up there to seehim. The Frogman was in truth descended from the common frogs of Oz, and whenhe was first born he lived in a pool in the Winkie Country and was much likeany other frog. Being of an adventurous nature, however, he soon hopped out ofhis pool and began to travel, when a big bird came along and seized him in itsbeak and started to fly away with him to its nest. When high in the air, thefrog wriggled so frantically that he got loose and fell down, down, down into asmall hidden pool on the tableland of the Yips. Now that pool, it seems, wasunknown to the Yips because it was surrounded by thick bushes and was not nearto any dwelling, and it proved to be an enchanted pool, for the frog grew veryfast and very big, feeding on the magic skosh which is found nowhere else onearth except in that one pool. And the skosh not only made the frog very big sothat when he stood on his hind legs he was as tall as any Yip in the country,but it made him unusually intelligent, so that he soon knew more than the Yipsdid and was able to reason and to argue very well indeed.

No one could expect a frog with these talents to remain in a hidden pool, so hefinally got out of it and mingled with the people of the tableland, who wereamazed at his appearance and greatly impressed by his learning. They had neverseen a frog before, and the frog had never seen a Yip before, but as there wereplenty of Yips and only one frog, the frog became the most important. He didnot hop any more, but stood upright on his hind legs and dressed himself infine clothes and sat in chairs and did all the things that people do, so hesoon came to be called the Frogman, and that is the only name he has ever had.After some years had passed, the people came to regard the Frogman as theiradviser in all matters that puzzled them. They brought all their difficultiesto him, and when he did not know anything, he pretended to know it, whichseemed to answer just as well. Indeed, the Yips thought the Frogman was muchwiser than he really was, and he allowed them to think so, being very proud ofhis position of authority.

There was another pool on the tableland which was not enchanted but containedgood, clear water and was located close to the dwellings. Here the people builtthe Frogman a house of his own, close to the edge of the pool so that he couldtake a bath or a swim whenever he wished. He usually swam in the pool in theearly morning before anyone else was up, and during the day he dressed himselfin his beautiful clothes and sat in his house and received the visits of allthe Yips who came to him to ask his advice. The Frogman’s usual costumeconsisted of knee-breeches made of yellow satin plush, with trimmings of goldbraid and jeweled knee-buckles; a white satin vest with silver buttons in whichwere set solitaire rubies; a swallow-tailed coat of bright yellow; greenstockings and red leather shoes turned up at the toes and having diamondbuckles. He wore, when he walked out, a purple silk hat and carried agold-headed cane. Over his eyes he wore great spectacles with gold rims, notbecause his eyes were bad, but because the spectacles made him look wise, andso distinguished and gorgeous was his appearance that all the Yips were veryproud of him.

There was no King or Queen in the Yip Country, so the simple inhabitantsnaturally came to look upon the Frogman as their leader as well as theircounselor in all times of emergency. In his heart the big frog knew he was nowiser than the Yips, but for a frog to know as much as a person was quiteremarkable, and the Frogman was shrewd enough to make the people believe he wasfar more wise than he really was. They never suspected he was a humbug, butlistened to his words with great respect and did just what he advised them todo.

Now when Cayke the Cookie Cook raised such an outcry over the theft of herdiamond-studded dishpan, the first thought of the people was to take her to theFrogman and inform him of the loss, thinking that of course he would tell herwhere to find it. He listened to the story with his big eyes wide open behindhis spectacles, and said in his deep, croaking voice, “If the dishpan isstolen, somebody must have taken it.”

“But who?” asked Cayke anxiously. “Who is the thief?”

“The one who took the dishpan, of course,” replied the Frogman, and hearingthis all the Yips nodded their heads gravely and said to one another, “It isabsolutely true!”

“But I want my dishpan!” cried Cayke.

“No one can blame you for that wish,” remarked the Frogman.

“Then tell me where I may find it,” she urged.

The look the Frogman gave her was a very wise look, and he rose from his chairand strutted up and down the room with his hands under his coattails in a verypompous and imposing manner. This was the first time so difficult a matter hadbeen brought to him, and he wanted time to think. It would never do to let themsuspect his ignorance, and so he thought very, very hard how best to answer thewoman without betraying himself. “I beg to inform you,” said he, “that nothingin the Yip Country has ever been stolen before.”

“We know that already,” answered Cayke the Cookie Cook impatiently.

“Therefore,” continued the Frogman, “this theft becomes a very importantmatter.”

“Well, where is my dishpan?” demanded the woman.

“It is lost, but it must be found. Unfortunately, we have no policemen ordetectives to unravel the mystery, so we must employ other means to regain thelost article. Cayke must first write a Proclamation and tack it to the door ofher house, and the Proclamation must read that whoever stole the jeweleddishpan must return it at once.”

“But suppose no one returns it,” suggested Cayke.

“Then,” said the Frogman, “that very fact will be proof that no one has stolenit.”

Cayke was not satisfied, but the other Yips seemed to approve the plan highly.They all advised her to do as the Frogman had told her to, so she posted thesign on her door and waited patiently for someone to return the dishpan—whichno one ever did. Again she went, accompanied by a group of her neighbors, tothe Frogman, who by this time had given the matter considerable thought. Saidhe to Cayke, “I am now convinced that no Yip has taken your dishpan, and sinceit is gone from the Yip Country, I suspect that some stranger came from theworld down below us in the darkness of night when all of us were asleep andtook away your treasure. There can be no other explanation of itsdisappearance. So if you wish to recover that golden, diamond-studded dishpan,you must go into the lower world after it.”

This was indeed a startling proposition. Cayke and her friends went to the edgeof the flat tableland and looked down the steep hillside to the plains below.It was so far to the bottom of the hill that nothing there could be seen verydistinctly, and it seemed to the Yips very venturesome, if not dangerous, to goso far from home into an unknown land. However, Cayke wanted her dishpan verybadly, so she turned to her friends and asked, “Who will go with me?”

No one answered the question, but after a period of silence one of the Yipssaid, “We know what is here on the top of this flat hill, and it seems to us avery pleasant place, but what is down below we do not know. The chances are itis not so pleasant, so we had best stay where we are.”

“It may be a far better country than this is,” suggested the Cookie Cook.

“Maybe, maybe,” responded another Yip, “but why take chances? Contentment withone’s lot is true wisdom. Perhaps in some other country there are bettercookies than you cook, but as we have always eaten your cookies and likedthem—except when they are burned on the bottom—we do not long for any betterones.”

Cayke might have agreed to this argument had she not been so anxious to findher precious dishpan, but now she exclaimed impatiently, “You are cowards, allof you! If none of you are willing to explore with me the great world beyondthis small hill, I will surely go alone.”

“That is a wise resolve,” declared the Yips, much relieved. “It is your dishpanthat is lost, not ours. And if you are willing to risk your life and liberty toregain it, no one can deny you the privilege.”

While they were thus conversing, the Frogman joined them and looked down at theplain with his big eyes and seemed unusually thoughtful. In fact, the Frogmanwas thinking that he’d like to see more of the world. Here in the Yip Countryhe had become the most important creature of them all, and his importance wasgetting to be a little tame. It would be nice to have other people defer to himand ask his advice, and there seemed no reason so far as he could see why hisfame should not spread throughout all Oz. He knew nothing of the rest of theworld, but it was reasonable to believe that there were more people beyond themountain where he now lived than there were Yips, and if he went among them hecould surprise them with his display of wisdom and make them bow down to him asthe Yips did. In other words, the Frogman was ambitious to become still greaterthan he was, which was impossible if he always remained upon this mountain. Hewanted others to see his gorgeous clothes and listen to his solemn sayings, andhere was an excuse for him to get away from the Yip Country. So he said toCayke the Cookie Cook, “I will go with you, my good woman,” which greatlypleased Cayke because she felt the Frogman could be of much assistance to herin her search.

But now, since the mighty Frogman had decided to undertake the journey, severalof the Yips who were young and daring at once made up their minds to go along,so the next morning after breakfast the Frogman and Cayke the Cookie Cook andnine of the Yips started to slide down the side of the mountain. The bramblebushes and cactus plants were very prickly and uncomfortable to the touch, sothe Frogman quickly commanded the Yips to go first and break a path, so thatwhen he followed them he would not tear his splendid clothes. Cayke, too, waswearing her best dress and was likewise afraid of the thorns and prickers, soshe kept behind the Frogman.

They made rather slow progress and night overtook them before they were halfwaydown the mountainside, so they found a cave in which they sought shelter untilmorning. Cayke had brought along a basket full of her famous cookies, so theyall had plenty to eat. On the second day the Yips began to wish they had notembarked on this adventure. They grumbled a good deal at having to cut away thethorns to make the path for the Frogman and the Cookie Cook, for their ownclothing suffered many tears, while Cayke and the Frogman traveled safely andin comfort.

“If it is true that anyone came to our country to steal your diamond dishpan,”said one of the Yips to Cayke, “it must have been a bird, for no person in theform of a man, woman or child could have climbed through these bushes and backagain.”

“And, allowing he could have done so,” said another Yip, “the diamond-studdedgold dishpan would not have repaid him for his troubles and his tribulations.”

“For my part,” remarked a third Yip, “I would rather go back home and dig andpolish some more diamonds and mine some more gold and make you another dishpanthan be scratched from head to heel by these dreadful bushes. Even now, if mymother saw me, she would not know I am her son.”

Cayke paid no heed to these mutterings, nor did the Frogman. Although theirjourney was slow, it was being made easy for them by the Yips, so they hadnothing to complain of and no desire to turn back. Quite near to the bottom ofthe great hill they came upon a great gulf, the sides of which were as smoothas glass. The gulf extended a long distance—as far as they could see in eitherdirection—and although it was not very wide, it was far too wide for the Yipsto leap across it. And should they fall into it, it was likely they might neverget out again. “Here our journey ends,” said the Yips. “We must go back again.”

Cayke the Cookie Cook began to weep.

“I shall never find my pretty dishpan again, and my heart will be broken!” shesobbed.

The Frogman went to the edge of the gulf and with his eye carefully measuredthe distance to the other side. “Being a frog,” said he, “I can leap, as allfrogs do, and being so big and strong, I am sure I can leap across this gulfwith ease. But the rest of you, not being frogs, must return the way you came.”

“We will do that with pleasure,” cried the Yips, and at once they turned andbegan to climb up the steep mountain, feeling they had had quite enough of thisunsatisfactory adventure. Cayke the Cookie Cook did not go with them, however.She sat on a rock and wept and wailed and was very miserable.

“Well,” said the Frogman to her, “I will now bid you goodbye. If I find yourdiamond-decorated gold dishpan, I will promise to see that it is safelyreturned to you.”

“But I prefer to find it myself!” she said. “See here, Frogman, why can’t youcarry me across the gulf when you leap it? You are big and strong, while I amsmall and thin.”

The Frogman gravely thought over this suggestion. It was a fact that Cayke theCookie Cook was not a heavy person. Perhaps he could leap the gulf with her onhis back. “If you are willing to risk a fall,” said he, “I will make theattempt.”

At once she sprang up and grabbed him around his neck with both her arms. Thatis, she grabbed him where his neck ought to be, for the Frogman had no neck atall. Then he squatted down, as frogs do when they leap, and with his powerfulrear legs he made a tremendous jump. Over the gulf they sailed, with the CookieCook on his back, and he had leaped so hard—to make sure of not falling in—thathe sailed over a lot of bramble bushes that grew on the other side and landedin a clear space which was so far beyond the gulf that when they looked backthey could not see it at all.

Cayke now got off the Frogman’s back and he stood erect again and carefullybrushed the dust from his velvet coat and rearranged his white satin necktie.

“I had no idea I could leap so far,” he said wonderingly. “Leaping is one moreaccomplishment I can now add to the long list of deeds I am able to perform.”

“You are certainly fine at leap-frog,” said the Cookie Cook admiringly, “but,as you say, you are wonderful in many ways. If we meet with any people downhere, I am sure they will consider you the greatest and grandest of all livingcreatures.”

“Yes,” he replied, “I shall probably astonish strangers, because they havenever before had the pleasure of seeing me. Also, they will marvel at my greatlearning. Every time I open my mouth, Cayke, I am liable to say somethingimportant.”

“That is true,” she agreed, “and it is fortunate your mouth is so very wide andopens so far, for otherwise all the wisdom might not be able to get out of it.”

“Perhaps nature made it wide for that very reason,” said the Frogman. “Butcome, let us now go on, for it is getting late and we must find some sort ofshelter before night overtakes us.”

CHAPTER 4
AMONG THE WINKIES

The settled parts of the Winkie Country are full of happy and contented peoplewho are ruled by a tin Emperor named Nick Chopper, who in turn is a subject ofthe beautiful girl Ruler, Ozma of Oz. But not all of the Winkie Country isfully settled. At the east, which part lies nearest the Emerald City, there arebeautiful farmhouses and roads, but as you travel west, you first come to abranch of the Winkie River, beyond which there is a rough country where fewpeople live, and some of these are quite unknown to the rest of the world.After passing through this rude section of territory, which no one ever visits,you would come to still another branch of the Winkie River, after crossingwhich you would find another well-settled part of the Winkie Country extendingwestward quite to the Deadly Desert that surrounds all the Land of Oz andseparates that favored fairyland from the more common outside world. TheWinkies who live in this west section have many tin mines, from which metalthey make a great deal of rich jewelry and other articles, all of which arehighly esteemed in the Land of Oz because tin is so bright and pretty and thereis not so much of it as there is of gold and silver.

Not all the Winkies are miners, however, for some till the fields and growgrains for food, and it was at one of these far-west Winkie farms that theFrogman and Cayke the Cookie Cook first arrived after they had descended fromthe mountain of the Yips. “Goodness me!” cried Nellary the Winkie wife when shesaw the strange couple approaching her house. “I have seen many queer creaturesin the Land of Oz, but none more queer than this giant frog who dresses like aman and walks on his hind legs. Come here, Wiljon,” she called to her husband,who was eating his breakfast, “and take a look at this astonishing freak.”

Wiljon the Winkie came to the door and looked out. He was still standing in thedoorway when the Frogman approached and said with a haughty croak, “Tell me, mygood man, have you seen a diamond-studded gold dishpan?”

“No, nor have I seen a copper-plated lobster,” replied Wiljon in an equallyhaughty tone.

The Frogman stared at him and said, “Do not be insolent, fellow!”

“No,” added Cayke the Cookie Cook hastily, “you must be very polite to thegreat Frogman, for he is the wisest creature in all the world.”

“Who says that?” inquired Wiljon.

“He says so himself,” replied Cayke, and the Frogman nodded and strutted up anddown, twirling his gold-headed cane very gracefully.

“Does the Scarecrow admit that this overgrown frog is the wisest creature inthe world?” asked Wiljon.

“I do not know who the Scarecrow is,” answered Cayke the Cookie Cook.

“Well, he lives at the Emerald City, and he is supposed to have the finestbrains in all Oz. The Wizard gave them to him, you know.”

“Mine grew in my head,” said the Frogman pompously, “so I think they must bebetter than any wizard brains. I am so wise that sometimes my wisdom makes myhead ache. I know so much that often I have to forget part of it, since no onecreature, however great, is able to contain so much knowledge.”

“It must be dreadful to be stuffed full of wisdom,” remarked Wiljonreflectively and eyeing the Frogman with a doubtful look. “It is my goodfortune to know very little.”

“I hope, however, you know where my jeweled dishpan is,” said the Cookie Cookanxiously.

“I do not know even that,” returned the Winkie. “We have trouble enough inkeeping track of our own dishpans without meddling with the dishpans ofstrangers.”

Finding him so ignorant, the Frogman proposed that they walk on and seekCayke’s dishpan elsewhere. Wiljon the Winkie did not seem greatly impressed bythe great Frogman, which seemed to that personage as strange as it wasdisappointing. But others in this unknown land might prove more respectful.

“I’d like to meet that Wizard of Oz,” remarked Cayke as they walked along apath. “If he could give a Scarecrow brains, he might be able to find mydishpan.”

“Poof!” grunted the Frogman scornfully. “I am greater than any wizard. Dependon ME. If your dishpan is anywhere in the world, I am sure to find it.”

“If you do not, my heart will be broken,” declared the Cookie Cook in asorrowful voice.

For a while the Frogman walked on in silence. Then he asked, “Why do you attachso much importance to a dishpan?”

“It is the greatest treasure I possess,” replied the woman. “It belonged to mymother and to all my grandmothers since the beginning of time. It is, Ibelieve, the very oldest thing in all the Yip Country—or was while it wasthere—and,” she added, dropping her voice to an awed whisper, “it has magicpowers!”

“In what way?” inquired the Frogman, seeming to be surprised at this statement.

“Whoever has owned that dishpan has been a good cook, for one thing. No oneelse is able to make such good cookies as I have cooked, as you and all theYips know. Yet the very morning after my dishpan was stolen, I tried to make abatch of cookies and they burned up in the oven! I made another batch thatproved too tough to eat, and I was so ashamed of them that I buried them in theground. Even the third batch of cookies, which I brought with me in my basket,were pretty poor stuff and no better than any woman could make who does not ownmy diamond-studded gold dishpan. In fact, my good Frogman, Cayke the CookieCook will never be able to cook good cookies again until her magic dishpan isrestored to her.”

“In that case,” said the Frogman with a sigh, “I suppose we must manage to findit.”

CHAPTER 5
OZMA’S FRIENDS ARE PERPLEXED

“Really,” said Dorothy, looking solemn, “this is very s’prising. We can’t evenfind a shadow of Ozma anywhere in the Em’rald City, and wherever she’s gone,she’s taken her Magic Picture with her.” She was standing in the courtyard ofthe palace with Betsy and Trot, while Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, danced aroundthe group, her hair flying in the wind.

“P’raps,” said Scraps, still dancing, “someone has stolen Ozma.”

“Oh, they’d never dare do that!” exclaimed tiny Trot.

“And stolen the Magic Picture, too, so the thing can’t tell where she is,”added the Patchwork Girl.

“That’s nonsense,” said Dorothy. “Why, ev’ryone loves Ozma. There isn’t aperson in the Land of Oz who would steal a single thing she owns.”

“Huh!” replied the Patchwork Girl. “You don’t know ev’ry person in the Land ofOz.”

“Why don’t I?”

“It’s a big country,” said Scraps. “There are cracks and corners in it thateven Ozma doesn’t know of.”

“The Patchwork Girl’s just daffy,” declared Betsy.

“No, she’s right about that,” replied Dorothy thoughtfully. “There are lots ofqueer people in this fairyland who never come near Ozma or the Em’rald City.I’ve seen some of ’em myself, girls. But I haven’t seen all, of course, andthere MIGHT be some wicked persons left in Oz yet, though I think the wickedwitches have all been destroyed.”

Just then the Wooden Sawhorse dashed into the courtyard with the Wizard of Ozon his back. “Have you found Ozma?” cried the Wizard when the Sawhorse stoppedbeside them.

“Not yet,” said Dorothy. “Doesn’t Glinda the Good know where she is?”

“No. Glinda’s Book of Records and all her magic instruments are gone. Someonemust have stolen them.”

“Goodness me!” exclaimed Dorothy in alarm. “This is the biggest steal I everheard of. Who do you think did it, Wizard?”

“I’ve no idea,” he answered. “But I have come to get my own bag of magic toolsand carry them to Glinda. She is so much more powerful than I that she may beable to discover the truth by means of my magic quicker and better than I couldmyself.”

“Hurry, then,” said Dorothy, “for we’ve all gotten terr’bly worried.”

The Wizard rushed away to his rooms but presently came back with a long, sadface. “It’s gone!” he said.

“What’s gone?” asked Scraps.

“My black bag of magic tools. Someone must have stolen it!”

They looked at one another in amazement.

“This thing is getting desperate,” continued the Wizard. “All the magic thatbelongs to Ozma or to Glinda or to me has been stolen.”

“Do you suppose Ozma could have taken them, herself, for some purpose?” askedBetsy.

“No indeed,” declared the Wizard. “I suspect some enemy has stolen Ozma and forfear we would follow and recapture her has taken all our magic away from us.”

“How dreadful!” cried Dorothy. “The idea of anyone wanting to injure our dearOzma! Can’t we do ANYthing to find her, Wizard?”

“I’ll ask Glinda. I must go straight back to her and tell her that my magictools have also disappeared. The good Sorceress will be greatly shocked, Iknow.”

With this, he jumped upon the back of the Sawhorse again, and the quaint steed,which never tired, dashed away at full speed. The three girls were very muchdisturbed in mind. Even the Patchwork Girl seemed to realize that a greatcalamity had overtaken them all. Ozma was a fairy of considerable power, andall the creatures in Oz as well as the three mortal girls from the outsideworld looked upon her as their protector and friend. The idea of theirbeautiful girl Ruler’s being overpowered by an enemy and dragged from hersplendid palace a captive was too astonishing for them to comprehend at first.Yet what other explanation of the mystery could there be?

“Ozma wouldn’t go away willingly, without letting us know about it,” assertedDorothy, “and she wouldn’t steal Glinda’s Great Book of Records or the Wizard’smagic, ’cause she could get them any time just by asking for ’em. I’m sure somewicked person has done all this.”

“Someone in the Land of Oz?” asked Trot.

“Of course. No one could get across the Deadly Desert, you know, and no one butan Oz person could know about the Magic Picture and the Book of Records and theWizard’s magic or where they were kept, and so be able to steal the wholeoutfit before we could stop ’em. It MUST be someone who lives in the Land ofOz.”

“But who—who—who?” asked Scraps. “That’s the question. Who?”

“If we knew,” replied Dorothy severely, “we wouldn’t be standing here doingnothing.”

Just then two boys entered the courtyard and approached the group of girls. Oneboy was dressed in the fantastic Munchkin costume—a blue jacket andknickerbockers, blue leather shoes and a blue hat with a high peak and tinysilver bells dangling from its rim—and this was Ojo the Lucky, who had oncecome from the Munchkin Country of Oz and now lived in the Emerald City. Theother boy was an American from Philadelphia and had lately found his way to Ozin the company of Trot and Cap’n Bill. His name was Button-Bright; that is,everyone called him by that name and knew no other. Button-Bright was not quiteas big as the Munchkin boy, but he wore the same kind of clothes, only theywere of different colors. As the two came up to the girls, arm in arm,Button-Bright remarked, “Hello, Dorothy. They say Ozma is lost.”

“WHO says so?” she asked.

“Ev’rybody’s talking about it in the City,” he replied.

“I wonder how the people found it out,” Dorothy asked.

“I know,” said Ojo. “Jellia Jamb told them. She has been asking everywhere ifanyone has seen Ozma.”

“That’s too bad,” observed Dorothy, frowning.

“Why?” asked Button-Bright.

“There wasn’t any use making all our people unhappy till we were dead certainthat Ozma can’t be found.”

“Pshaw,” said Button-Bright, “it’s nothing to get lost. I’ve been lost lots oftimes.”

“That’s true,” admitted Trot, who knew that the boy had a habit of getting lostand then finding himself again, “but it’s diff’rent with Ozma. She’s the Rulerof all this big fairyland, and we’re ’fraid that the reason she’s lost isbecause somebody has stolen her away.”

“Only wicked people steal,” said Ojo. “Do you know of any wicked people in Oz,Dorothy?”

“No,” she replied.

“They’re here, though,” cried Scraps, dancing up to them and then circlingaround the group. “Ozma’s stolen; someone in Oz stole her; only wicked peoplesteal; so someone in Oz is wicked!”

There was no denying the truth of this statement. The faces of all of them werenow solemn and sorrowful. “One thing is sure,” said Button-Bright after a time,“if Ozma has been stolen, someone ought to find her and punish the thief.”

“There may be a lot of thieves,” suggested Trot gravely, “and in this fairycountry they don’t seem to have any soldiers or policemen.”

“There is one soldier,” claimed Dorothy.

“He has green whiskers and a gun and is a Major-General, but no one is afraidof either his gun or his whiskers, ’cause he’s so tender-hearted that hewouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Well, a soldier is a soldier,” said Betsy, “and perhaps he’d hurt a wickedthief if he wouldn’t hurt a fly. Where is he?”

“He went fishing about two months ago and hasn’t come back yet,” explainedButton-Bright.

“Then I can’t see that he will be of much use to us in this trouble,” sighedlittle Trot. “But p’raps Ozma, who is a fairy, can get away from the thieveswithout any help from anyone.”

“She MIGHT be able to,” answered Dorothy reflectively, “but if she had thepower to do that, it isn’t likely she’d have let herself be stolen. So thethieves must have been even more powerful in magic than our Ozma.”

There was no denying this argument, and although they talked the matter overall the rest of that day, they were unable to decide how Ozma had been stolenagainst her will or who had committed the dreadful deed. Toward evening theWizard came back, riding slowly upon the Sawhorse because he felt discouragedand perplexed. Glinda came later in her aerial chariot drawn by twentymilk-white swans, and she also seemed worried and unhappy. More of Ozma’sfriends joined them, and that evening they all had a big talk together. “Ithink,” said Dorothy, “we ought to start out right away in search of our dearOzma. It seems cruel for us to live comf’tably in her palace while she is apris’ner in the power of some wicked enemy.”

“Yes,” agreed Glinda the Sorceress, “someone ought to search for her. I cannotgo myself, because I must work hard in order to create some new instruments ofsorcery by means of which I may rescue our fair Ruler. But if you can find herin the meantime and let me know who has stolen her, it will enable me to rescueher much more quickly.”

“Then we’ll start tomorrow morning,” decided Dorothy. “Betsy and Trot and Iwon’t waste another minute.”

“I’m not sure you girls will make good detectives,” remarked the Wizard, “butI’ll go with you to protect you from harm and to give you my advice. All mywizardry, alas, is stolen, so I am now really no more a wizard than any of you,but I will try to protect you from any enemies you may meet.”

“What harm could happen to us in Oz?” inquired Trot.

“What harm happened to Ozma?” returned the Wizard.

“If there is an Evil Power abroad in our fairyland, which is able to steal notonly Ozma and her Magic Picture, but Glinda’s Book of Records and all hermagic, and my black bag containing all my tricks of wizardry, then that EvilPower may yet cause us considerable injury. Ozma is a fairy, and so is Glinda,so no power can kill or destroy them, but you girls are all mortals and so areButton-Bright and I, so we must watch out for ourselves.”

“Nothing can kill me,” said Ojo the Munchkin boy.

“That is true,” replied the Sorceress, “and I think it may be well to dividethe searchers into several parties, that they may cover all the land of Oz morequickly. So I will send Ojo and Unc Nunkie and Dr. Pipt into the MunchkinCountry, which they are well acquainted with; and I will send the Scarecrow andthe Tin Woodman into the Quadling Country, for they are fearless and brave andnever tire; and to the Gillikin Country, where many dangers lurk, I will sendthe Shaggy Man and his brother, with Tik-Tok and Jack Pumpkinhead. Dorothy maymake up her own party and travel into the Winkie Country. All of you mustinquire everywhere for Ozma and try to discover where she is hidden.”

They thought this a very wise plan and adopted it without question. In Ozma’sabsence, Glinda the Good was the most important person in Oz, and all were gladto serve under her direction.

CHAPTER 6
THE SEARCH PARTY

Next morning as soon as the sun was up, Glinda flew back to her castle,stopping on the way to instruct the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, who were atthat time staying at the college of Professor H. M. Wogglebug, T.E., and takinga course of his Patent Educational Pills.

On hearing of Ozma’s loss, they started at once for the Quadling Country tosearch for her. As soon as Glinda had left the Emerald City, Tik-Tok and theShaggy Man and Jack Pumpkinhead, who had been present at the conference, begantheir journey into the Gillikin Country, and an hour later Ojo and Unc Nunkiejoined Dr. Pipt and together they traveled toward the Munchkin Country. Whenall these searchers were gone, Dorothy and the Wizard completed their ownpreparations.

The Wizard hitched the Sawhorse to the Red Wagon, which would seat four verycomfortably. He wanted Dorothy, Betsy, Trot and the Patchwork Girl to ride inthe wagon, but Scraps came up to them mounted upon the Woozy, and the Woozysaid he would like to join the party. Now this Woozy was a most peculiaranimal, having a square head, square body, square legs and square tail. Hisskin was very tough and hard, resembling leather, and while his movements weresomewhat clumsy, the beast could travel with remarkable swiftness. His squareeyes were mild and gentle in expression, and he was not especially foolish. TheWoozy and the Patchwork Girl were great friends, and so the Wizard agreed tolet the Woozy go with them.

Another great beast now appeared and asked to go along. This was none otherthan the famous Cowardly Lion, one of the most interesting creatures in all Oz.No lion that roamed the jungles or plains could compare in size or intelligencewith this Cowardly Lion, who—like all animals living in Oz—could talk and whotalked with more shrewdness and wisdom than many of the people did. He said hewas cowardly because he always trembled when he faced danger, but he had faceddanger many times and never refused to fight when it was necessary. This Lionwas a great favorite with Ozma and always guarded her throne on stateoccasions. He was also an old companion and friend of the Princess Dorothy, sothe girl was delighted to have him join the party.

“I’m so nervous over our dear Ozma,” said the Cowardly Lion in his deep,rumbling voice, “that it would make me unhappy to remain behind while you aretrying to find her. But do not get into any danger, I beg of you, for dangerfrightens me terribly.”

“We’ll not get into danger if we can poss’bly help it,” promised Dorothy, “butwe shall do anything to find Ozma, danger or no danger.”

The addition of the Woozy and the Cowardly Lion to the party gave Betsy Bobbinan idea, and she ran to the marble stables at the rear of the palace andbrought out her mule, Hank by name. Perhaps no mule you ever saw was so leanand bony and altogether plain looking as this Hank, but Betsy loved him dearlybecause he was faithful and steady and not nearly so stupid as most mules areconsidered to be. Betsy had a saddle for Hank, and he declared she would rideon his back, an arrangement approved by the Wizard because it left only four ofthe party to ride on the seats of the Red Wagon—Dorothy and Button-Bright andTrot and himself.

An old sailor man who had one wooden leg came to see them off and suggestedthat they put a supply of food and blankets in the Red Wagon inasmuch as theywere uncertain how long they would be gone. This sailor man was called Cap’nBill. He was a former friend and comrade of Trot and had encountered manyadventures in company with the little girl. I think he was sorry he could notgo with her on this trip, but Glinda the Sorceress had asked Cap’n Bill toremain in the Emerald City and take charge of the royal palace while everyoneelse was away, and the one-legged sailor had agreed to do so.

They loaded the back end of the Red Wagon with everything they thought theymight need, and then they formed a procession and marched from the palacethrough the Emerald City to the great gates of the wall that surrounded thisbeautiful capital of the Land of Oz. Crowds of citizens lined the streets tosee them pass and to cheer them and wish them success, for all were grievedover Ozma’s loss and anxious that she be found again. First came the CowardlyLion, then the Patchwork Girl riding upon the Woozy, then Betsy Bobbin on hermule Hank, and finally the Sawhorse drawing the Red Wagon, in which were seatedthe Wizard and Dorothy and Button-Bright and Trot. No one was obliged to drivethe Sawhorse, so there were no reins to his harness; one had only to tell himwhich way to go, fast or slow, and he understood perfectly.

It was about this time that a shaggy little black dog who had been lying asleepin Dorothy’s room in the palace woke up and discovered he was lonesome.Everything seemed very still throughout the great building, and Toto—that wasthe little dog’s name—missed the customary chatter of the three girls. He neverpaid much attention to what was going on around him, and although he couldspeak, he seldom said anything, so the little dog did not know about Ozma’sloss or that everyone had gone in search of her. But he liked to be withpeople, and especially with his own mistress, Dorothy, and having yawned andstretched himself and found the door of the room ajar, he trotted out into thecorridor and went down the stately marble stairs to the hall of the palace,where he met Jellia Jamb.

“Where’s Dorothy?” asked Toto.

“She’s gone to the Winkie Country,” answered the maid.

“When?”

“A little while ago,” replied Jellia.

Toto turned and trotted out into the palace garden and down the long drivewayuntil he came to the streets of the Emerald City. Here he paused to listen, andhearing sounds of cheering, he ran swiftly along until he came in sight of theRed Wagon and the Woozy and the Lion and the Mule and all the others. Being awise little dog, he decided not to show himself to Dorothy just then, lest hebe sent back home, but he never lost sight of the party of travelers, all ofwhom were so eager to get ahead that they never thought to look behind them.When they came to the gates in the city wall, the Guardian of the Gates cameout to throw wide the golden portals and let them pass through.

“Did any strange person come in or out of the city on the night before lastwhen Ozma was stolen?” asked Dorothy.

“No indeed, Princess,” answered the Guardian of the Gates.

“Of course not,” said the Wizard. “Anyone clever enough to steal all the thingswe have lost would not mind the barrier of a wall like this in the least. Ithink the thief must have flown through the air, for otherwise he could nothave stolen from Ozma’s royal palace and Glinda’s faraway castle in the samenight. Moreover, as there are no airships in Oz and no way for airships fromthe outside world to get into this country, I believe the thief must have flownfrom place to place by means of magic arts which neither Glinda nor Iunderstand.”

On they went, and before the gates closed behind them, Toto managed to dodgethrough them. The country surrounding the Emerald City was thickly settled, andfor a while our friends rode over nicely paved roads which wound through afertile country dotted with beautiful houses, all built in the quaint Ozfashion. In the course of a few hours, however, they had left the tilled fieldsand entered the Country of the Winkies, which occupies a quarter of all theterritory in the Land of Oz but is not so well known as many other parts ofOzma’s fairyland. Long before night the travelers had crossed the Winkie Rivernear to the Scarecrow’s Tower (which was now vacant) and had entered theRolling Prairie where few people live. They asked everyone they met for news ofOzma, but none in this district had seen her or even knew that she had beenstolen. And by nightfall they had passed all the farmhouses and were obliged tostop and ask for shelter at the hut of a lonely shepherd. When they halted,Toto was not far behind. The little dog halted, too, and stealing softly aroundthe party, he hid himself behind the hut.

The shepherd was a kindly old man and treated the travelers with much courtesy.He slept out of doors that night, giving up his hut to the three girls, whomade their beds on the floor with the blankets they had brought in the RedWagon. The Wizard and Button-Bright also slept out of doors, and so did theCowardly Lion and Hank the Mule. But Scraps and the Sawhorse did not sleep atall, and the Woozy could stay awake for a month at a time if he wished to, sothese three sat in a little group by themselves and talked together all throughthe night.

In the darkness, the Cowardly Lion felt a shaggy little form nestling besidehis own, and he said sleepily, “Where did you come from, Toto?”

“From home,” said the dog. “If you roll over, roll the other way so you won’tsmash me.”

“Does Dorothy know you are here?” asked the Lion.

“I believe not,” admitted Toto, and he added a little anxiously, “Do you think,friend Lion, we are now far enough from the Emerald City for me to risk showingmyself, or will Dorothy send me back because I wasn’t invited?”

“Only Dorothy can answer that question,” said the Lion. “For my part, Toto, Iconsider this affair none of my business, so you must act as you think best.”Then the huge beast went to sleep again, and Toto snuggled closer to the warm,hairy body and also slept. He was a wise little dog in his way, and didn’tintend to worry when there was something much better to do.

In the morning the Wizard built a fire, over which the girls cooked a very goodbreakfast. Suddenly Dorothy discovered Toto sitting quietly before the fire,and the little girl exclaimed, “Goodness me, Toto! Where did YOU come from?”

“From the place you cruelly left me,” replied the dog in a reproachful tone.

“I forgot all about you,” admitted Dorothy, “and if I hadn’t, I’d prob’ly leftyou with Jellia Jamb, seeing this isn’t a pleasure trip but stric’ly business.But now that you’re here, Toto, I s’pose you’ll have to stay with us, unlessyou’d rather go back again. We may get ourselves into trouble before we’redone, Toto.”

“Never mind that,” said Toto, wagging his tail. “I’m hungry, Dorothy.”

“Breakfas’ll soon be ready, and then you shall have your share,” promised hislittle mistress, who was really glad to have her dog with her. She and Toto hadtraveled together before, and she knew he was a good and faithful comrade.

When the food was cooked and served, the girls invited the old shepherd to jointhem in the morning meal. He willingly consented, and while they ate he said tothem, “You are now about to pass through a very dangerous country, unless youturn to the north or to the south to escape its perils.”

“In that case,” said the Cowardly Lion, “let us turn, by all means, for I dreadto face dangers of any sort.”

“What’s the matter with the country ahead of us?” inquired Dorothy.

“Beyond this Rolling Prairie,” explained the shepherd, “are the Merry-Go-RoundMountains, set close together and surrounded by deep gulfs so that no one isable to get past them. Beyond the Merry-Go-Round Mountains it is said theThistle-Eaters and the Herkus live.”

“What are they like?” demanded Dorothy.

“No one knows, for no one has ever passed the Merry-Go-Round Mountains,” wasthe reply, “but it is said that the Thistle-Eaters hitch dragons to theirchariots and that the Herkus are waited upon by giants whom they have conqueredand made their slaves.”

“Who says all that?” asked Betsy.

“It is common report,” declared the shepherd. “Everyone believes it.”

“I don’t see how they know,” remarked little Trot, “if no one has been there.”

“Perhaps the birds who fly over that country brought the news,” suggestedBetsy.

“If you escaped those dangers,” continued the shepherd, “you might encounterothers still more serious before you came to the next branch of the WinkieRiver. It is true that beyond that river there lies a fine country inhabited bygood people, and if you reached there, you would have no further trouble. It isbetween here and the west branch of the Winkie River that all dangers lie, forthat is the unknown territory that is inhabited by terrible, lawless people.”

“It may be, and it may not be,” said the Wizard. “We shall know when we getthere.”

“Well,” persisted the shepherd, “in a fairy country such as ours, everyundiscovered place is likely to harbor wicked creatures. If they were notwicked, they would discover themselves and by coming among us submit to Ozma’srule and be good and considerate, as are all the Oz people whom we know.”

“That argument,” stated the little Wizard, “convinces me that it is our duty togo straight to those unknown places, however dangerous they may be, for it issurely some cruel and wicked person who has stolen our Ozma, and we know itwould be folly to search among good people for the culprit. Ozma may not behidden in the secret places of the Winkie Country, it is true, but it is ourduty to travel to every spot, however dangerous, where our beloved Ruler islikely to be imprisoned.”

“You’re right about that,” said Button-Bright approvingly. “Dangers don’t hurtus. Only things that happen ever hurt anyone, and a danger is a thing thatmight happen and might not happen, and sometimes don’t amount to shucks. I votewe go ahead and take our chances.”

They were all of the same opinion, so they packed up and said goodbye to thefriendly shepherd and proceeded on their way.

CHAPTER 7
THE MERRY-GO-ROUND MOUNTAINS

The Rolling Prairie was not difficult to travel over, although it was alluphill and downhill, so for a while they made good progress. Not even ashepherd was to be met with now, and the farther they advanced the more drearythe landscape became. At noon they stopped for a “picnic luncheon,” as Betsycalled it, and then they again resumed their journey. All the animals wereswift and tireless, and even the Cowardly Lion and the Mule found they couldkeep up with the pace of the Woozy and the Sawhorse.

It was the middle of the afternoon when first they came in sight of a clusterof low mountains. These were cone-shaped, rising from broad bases to sharppeaks at the tops. From a distance the mountains appeared indistinct and seemedrather small—more like hills than mountains—but as the travelers drew nearer,they noted a most unusual circumstance: the hills were all whirling around,some in one direction and some the opposite way.

“I guess these are the Merry-Go-Round Mountains, all right,” said Dorothy.

“They must be,” said the Wizard.

“They go ’round, sure enough,” agreed Trot, “but they don’t seem very merry.”

There were several rows of these mountains, extending both to the right and tothe left for miles and miles. How many rows there might be none could tell, butbetween the first row of peaks could be seen other peaks, all steadily whirlingaround one way or another. Continuing to ride nearer, our friends watched thesehills attentively, until at last, coming close up, they discovered there was adeep but narrow gulf around the edge of each mountain, and that the mountainswere set so close together that the outer gulf was continuous and barredfarther advance. At the edge of the gulf they all dismounted and peered overinto its depths. There was no telling where the bottom was, if indeed there wasany bottom at all. From where they stood it seemed as if the mountains had beenset in one great hole in the ground, just close enough together so they wouldnot touch, and that each mountain was supported by a rocky column beneath itsbase which extended far down in the black pit below. From the land side itseemed impossible to get across the gulf or, succeeding in that, to gain afoothold on any of the whirling mountains.

“This ditch is too wide to jump across,” remarked Button-Bright.

“P’raps the Lion could do it,” suggested Dorothy.

“What, jump from here to that whirling hill?” cried the Lion indignantly. “Ishould say not! Even if I landed there and could hold on, what good would itdo? There’s another spinning mountain beyond it, and perhaps still anotherbeyond that. I don’t believe any living creature could jump from one mountainto another when both are whirling like tops and in different directions.”

“I propose we turn back,” said the Wooden Sawhorse with a yawn of hischopped-out mouth as he stared with his knot eyes at the Merry-Go-RoundMountains.

“I agree with you,” said the Woozy, wagging his square head.

“We should have taken the shepherd’s advice,” added Hank the Mule.

The others of the party, however they might be puzzled by the serious problemthat confronted them, would not allow themselves to despair. “If we once getover these mountains,” said Button-Bright, “we could probably get along allright.”

“True enough,” agreed Dorothy. “So we must find some way, of course, to getpast these whirligig hills. But how?”

“I wish the Ork was with us,” sighed Trot.

“But the Ork isn’t here,” said the Wizard, “and we must depend upon ourselvesto conquer this difficulty. Unfortunately, all my magic has been stolen,otherwise I am sure I could easily get over the mountains.”

“Unfortunately,” observed the Woozy, “none of us has wings. And we’re in amagic country without any magic.”

“What is that around your waist, Dorothy?” asked the Wizard.

“That? Oh, that’s just the Magic Belt I once captured from the Nome King,” shereplied.

“A Magic Belt! Why, that’s fine. I’m sure a Magic Belt would take you overthese hills.”

“It might if I knew how to work it,” said the little girl. “Ozma knows a lot ofits magic, but I’ve never found out about it. All I know is that while I amwearing it, nothing can hurt me.”

“Try wishing yourself across and see if it will obey you,” suggested theWizard.

“But what good would that do?” asked Dorothy. “If I got across, it wouldn’thelp the rest of you, and I couldn’t go alone among all those giants anddragons while you stayed here.”

“True enough,” agreed the Wizard sadly. And then, after looking around thegroup, he inquired, “What is that on your finger, Trot?”

“A ring. The Mermaids gave it to me,” she explained, “and if ever I’m introuble when I’m on the water, I can call the Mermaids and they’ll come andhelp me. But the Mermaids can’t help me on the land, you know, ’cause theyswim, and—and—they haven’t any legs.”

“True enough,” repeated the Wizard, more sadly.

There was a big, broad, spreading tree near the edge of the gulf, and as thesun was hot above them, they all gathered under the shade of the tree to studythe problem of what to do next. “If we had a long rope,” said Betsy, “we couldfasten it to this tree and let the other end of it down into the gulf and allslide down it.”

“Well, what then?” asked the Wizard.

“Then, if we could manage to throw the rope up the other side,” explained thegirl, “we could all climb it and be on the other side of the gulf.”

“There are too many ‘if’s’ in that suggestion,” remarked the little Wizard.“And you must remember that the other side is nothing but spinning mountains,so we couldn’t possibly fasten a rope to them, even if we had one.”

“That rope idea isn’t half bad, though,” said the Patchwork Girl, who had beendancing dangerously near to the edge of the gulf.

“What do you mean?” asked Dorothy.

The Patchwork Girl suddenly stood still and cast her button eyes around thegroup. “Ha, I have it!” she exclaimed. “Unharness the Sawhorse, somebody. Myfingers are too clumsy.”

“Shall we?” asked Button-Bright doubtfully, turning to the others.

“Well, Scraps has a lot of brains, even if she IS stuffed with cotton,”asserted the Wizard. “If her brains can help us out of this trouble, we oughtto use them.”

So he began unharnessing the Sawhorse, and Button-Bright and Dorothy helpedhim. When they had removed the harness, the Patchwork Girl told them to take itall apart and buckle the straps together, end to end. And after they had donethis, they found they had one very long strap that was stronger than any rope.“It would reach across the gulf easily,” said the Lion, who with the otheranimals had sat on his haunches and watched this proceeding. “But I don’t seehow it could be fastened to one of those dizzy mountains.”

Scraps had no such notion as that in her baggy head. She told them to fastenone end of the strap to a stout limb of the tree, pointing to one whichextended quite to the edge of the gulf. Button-Bright did that, climbing thetree and then crawling out upon the limb until he was nearly over the gulf.There he managed to fasten the strap, which reached to the ground below, andthen he slid down it and was caught by the Wizard, who feared he might fallinto the chasm. Scraps was delighted. She seized the lower end of the strap,and telling them all to get out of her way, she went back as far as the strapwould reach and then made a sudden run toward the gulf. Over the edge sheswung, clinging to the strap until it had gone as far as its length permitted,when she let go and sailed gracefully through the air until she alighted uponthe mountain just in front of them.

Almost instantly, as the great cone continued to whirl, she was sent flyingagainst the next mountain in the rear, and that one had only turned halfwayaround when Scraps was sent flying to the next mountain behind it. Then herpatchwork form disappeared from view entirely, and the amazed watchers underthe tree wondered what had become of her. “She’s gone, and she can’t get back,”said the Woozy.

“My, how she bounded from one mountain to another!” exclaimed the Lion.

“That was because they whirl so fast,” the Wizard explained. “Scraps hadnothing to hold on to, and so of course she was tossed from one hill toanother. I’m afraid we shall never see the poor Patchwork Girl again.”

“I shall see her,” declared the Woozy. “Scraps is an old friend of mine, and ifthere are really Thistle-Eaters and Giants on the other side of those tops, shewill need someone to protect her. So here I go!” He seized the dangling strapfirmly in his square mouth, and in the same way that Scraps had done swunghimself over the gulf. He let go the strap at the right moment and fell uponthe first whirling mountain. Then he bounded to the next one back of it—not onhis feet, but “all mixed up,” as Trot said—and then he shot across to anothermountain, disappearing from view just as the Patchwork Girl had done.

“It seems to work, all right,” remarked Button-Bright. “I guess I’ll try it.”

“Wait a minute,” urged the Wizard. “Before any more of us make this desperateleap into the beyond, we must decide whether all will go or if some of us willremain behind.”

“Do you s’pose it hurt them much to bump against those mountains?” asked Trot.

“I don’t s’pose anything could hurt Scraps or the Woozy,” said Dorothy, “andnothing can hurt ME, because I wear the Magic Belt. So as I’m anxious to findOzma, I mean to swing myself across too.”

“I’ll take my chances,” decided Button-Bright.

“I’m sure it will hurt dreadfully, and I’m afraid to do it,” said the Lion, whowas already trembling, “but I shall do it if Dorothy does.”

“Well, that will leave Betsy and the Mule and Trot,” said the Wizard, “for ofcourse I shall go that I may look after Dorothy. Do you two girls think you canfind your way back home again?” he asked, addressing Trot and Betsy.

“I’m not afraid. Not much, that is,” said Trot. “It looks risky, I know, butI’m sure I can stand it if the others can.”

“If it wasn’t for leaving Hank,” began Betsy in a hesitating voice.

But the Mule interrupted her by saying, “Go ahead if you want to, and I’ll comeafter you. A mule is as brave as a lion any day.”

“Braver,” said the Lion, “for I’m a coward, friend Hank, and you are not. Butof course the Sawhorse—”

“Oh, nothing ever hurts ME,” asserted the Sawhorse calmly. “There’s never beenany question about my going. I can’t take the Red Wagon, though.”

“No, we must leave the wagon,” said the wizard, “and also we must leave ourfood and blankets, I fear. But if we can defy these Merry-Go-Round Mountains tostop us, we won’t mind the sacrifice of some of our comforts.”

“No one knows where we’re going to land!” remarked the Lion in a voice thatsounded as if he were going to cry.

“We may not land at all,” replied Hank, “but the best way to find out what willhappen to us is to swing across as Scraps and the Woozy have done.”

“I think I shall go last,” said the Wizard, “so who wants to go first?”

“I’ll go,” decided Dorothy.

“No, it’s my turn first,” said Button-Bright. “Watch me!”

Even as he spoke, the boy seized the strap, and after making a run swunghimself across the gulf. Away he went, bumping from hill to hill until hedisappeared. They listened intently, but the boy uttered no cry until he hadbeen gone some moments, when they heard a faint “Hullo-a!” as if called from agreat distance. The sound gave them courage, however, and Dorothy picked upToto and held him fast under one arm while with the other hand she seized thestrap and bravely followed after Button-Bright.

When she struck the first whirling mountain, she fell upon it quite softly, butbefore she had time to think, she flew through the air and lit with a jar onthe side of the next mountain. Again she flew and alighted, and again and stillagain, until after five successive bumps she fell sprawling upon a green meadowand was so dazed and bewildered by her bumpy journey across the Merry-Go-RoundMountains that she lay quite still for a time to collect her thoughts. Toto hadescaped from her arms just as she fell, and he now sat beside her panting withexcitement. Then Dorothy realized that someone was helping her to her feet, andhere was Button-Bright on one side of her and Scraps on the other, both seemingto be unhurt. The next object her eyes fell upon was the Woozy, squatting uponhis square back end and looking at her reflectively, while Toto barked joyouslyto find his mistress unhurt after her whirlwind trip.

“Good!” said the Woozy. “Here’s another and a dog, both safe and sound. But myword, Dorothy, you flew some! If you could have seen yourself, you’d have beenabsolutely astonished.”

“They say ‘Time flies,’” laughed Button-Bright, “but Time never made a quickerjourney than that.”

Just then, as Dorothy turned around to look at the whirling mountains, she wasin time to see tiny Trot come flying from the nearest hill to fall upon thesoft grass not a yard away from where she stood. Trot was so dizzy she couldn’tstand at first, but she wasn’t at all hurt, and presently Betsy came flying tothem and would have bumped into the others had they not retreated in time toavoid her. Then, in quick succession, came the Lion, Hank and the Sawhorse,bounding from mountain to mountain to fall safely upon the greensward. Only theWizard was now left behind, and they waited so long for him that Dorothy beganto be worried.

But suddenly he came flying from the nearest mountain and tumbled heels overhead beside them. Then they saw that he had wound two of their blankets aroundhis body to keep the bumps from hurting him and had fastened the blankets withsome of the spare straps from the harness of the Sawhorse.

CHAPTER 8
THE MYSTERIOUS CITY

There they sat upon the grass, their heads still swimming from their dizzyflights, and looked at one another in silent bewilderment. But presently, whenassured that no one was injured, they grew more calm and collected, and theLion said with a sigh of relief, “Who would have thought those Merry-Go-RoundMountains were made of rubber?”

“Are they really rubber?” asked Trot.

“They must be,” replied the Lion, “for otherwise we would not have bounded soswiftly from one to another without getting hurt.”

“That is all guesswork,” declared the Wizard, unwinding the blankets from hisbody, “for none of us stayed long enough on the mountains to discover what theyare made of. But where are we?”

“That’s guesswork,” said Scraps. “The shepherd said the Thistle-Eaters livethis side of the mountains and are waited on by giants.”

“Oh no,” said Dorothy, “it’s the Herkus who have giant slaves, and theThistle-Eaters hitch dragons to their chariots.”

“How could they do that?” asked the Woozy. “Dragons have long tails, whichwould get in the way of the chariot wheels.”

“And if the Herkus have conquered the giants,” said Trot, “they must be atleast twice the size of giants. P’raps the Herkus are the biggest people in allthe world!”

“Perhaps they are,” assented the Wizard in a thoughtful tone of voice. “Andperhaps the shepherd didn’t know what he was talking about. Let us travel ontoward the west and discover for ourselves what the people of this country arelike.”

It seemed a pleasant enough country, and it was quite still and peaceful whenthey turned their eyes away from the silently whirling mountains. There weretrees here and there and green bushes, while throughout the thick grass werescattered brilliantly colored flowers. About a mile away was a low hill thathid from them all the country beyond it, so they realized they could not tellmuch about the country until they had crossed the hill. The Red Wagon havingbeen left behind, it was now necessary to make other arrangements fortraveling. The Lion told Dorothy she could ride upon his back as she had oftendone before, and the Woozy said he could easily carry both Trot and thePatchwork Girl. Betsy still had her mule, Hank, and Button-Bright and theWizard could sit together upon the long, thin back of the Sawhorse, but theytook care to soften their seat with a pad of blankets before they started. Thusmounted, the adventurers started for the hill, which was reached after a briefjourney.

As they mounted the crest and gazed beyond the hill, they discovered not faraway a walled city, from the towers and spires of which gay banners wereflying. It was not a very big city, indeed, but its walls were very high andthick, and it appeared that the people who lived there must have feared attackby a powerful enemy, else they would not have surrounded their dwellings withso strong a barrier. There was no path leading from the mountains to the city,and this proved that the people seldom or never visited the whirling hills, butour friends found the grass soft and agreeable to travel over, and with thecity before them they could not well lose their way. When they drew nearer tothe walls, the breeze carried to their ears the sound of music—dim at first,but growing louder as they advanced.

“That doesn’t seem like a very terr’ble place,” remarked Dorothy.

“Well, it LOOKS all right,” replied Trot from her seat on the Woozy, “but lookscan’t always be trusted.”

“MY looks can,” said Scraps. “I LOOK patchwork, and I AM patchwork, and no onebut a blind owl could ever doubt that I’m the Patchwork Girl.” Saying which,she turned a somersault off the Woozy and, alighting on her feet, began wildlydancing about.

“Are owls ever blind?” asked Trot.

“Always, in the daytime,” said Button-Bright. “But Scraps can see with herbutton eyes both day and night. Isn’t it queer?”

“It’s queer that buttons can see at all,” answered Trot. “But good gracious!What’s become of the city?”

“I was going to ask that myself,” said Dorothy. “It’s gone!”

“It’s gone!”

The animals came to a sudden halt, for the city had really disappeared, wallsand all, and before them lay the clear, unbroken sweep of the country. “Dearme!” exclaimed the Wizard. “This is rather disagreeable. It is annoying totravel almost to a place and then find it is not there.”

“Where can it be, then?” asked Dorothy. “It cert’nly was there a minute ago.”

“I can hear the music yet,” declared Button-Bright, and when they all listened,the strains of music could plainly be heard.

“Oh! There’s the city over at the left,” called Scraps, and turning their eyes,they saw the walls and towers and fluttering banners far to the left of them.

“We must have lost our way,” suggested Dorothy.

“Nonsense,” said the Lion.

“I, and all the other animals, have been tramping straight toward the city eversince we first saw it.”

“Then how does it happen—”

“Never mind,” interrupted the Wizard, “we are no farther from it than we werebefore. It is in a different direction, that’s all, so let us hurry and getthere before it again escapes us.”

So on they went directly toward the city, which seemed only a couple of milesdistant. But when they had traveled less than a mile, it suddenly disappearedagain. Once more they paused, somewhat discouraged, but in a moment the buttoneyes of Scraps again discovered the city, only this time it was just behindthem in the direction from which they had come. “Goodness gracious!” criedDorothy. “There’s surely something wrong with that city. Do you s’pose it’s onwheels, Wizard?”

“It may not be a city at all,” he replied, looking toward it with a speculativeglance.

“What COULD it be, then?”

“Just an illusion.”

“What’s that?” asked Trot.

“Something you think you see and don’t see.”

“I can’t believe that,” said Button-Bright. “If we only saw it, we might bemistaken, but if we can see it and hear it, too, it must be there.”

“Where?” asked the Patchwork Girl.

“Somewhere near us,” he insisted.

“We will have to go back, I suppose,” said the Woozy with a sigh.

So back they turned and headed for the walled city until it disappeared again,only to reappear at the right of them. They were constantly getting nearer toit, however, so they kept their faces turned toward it as it flitted here andthere to all points of the compass. Presently the Lion, who was leading theprocession, halted abruptly and cried out, “Ouch!”

“What’s the matter?” asked Dorothy.

“Ouch—Ouch!” repeated the Lion, and leaped backward so suddenly that Dorothynearly tumbled from his back. At the same time Hank the Mule yelled “Ouch!”

“Ouch! Ouch!” repeated the Lion and leaped backward so suddenly that Dorothynearly tumbled from his back. At the same time, Hank the Mule yelled “Ouch!”almost as loudly as the Lion had done, and he also pranced backward a fewpaces.

“It’s the thistles,” said Betsy. “They prick their legs.”

Hearing this, all looked down, and sure enough the ground was thick withthistles, which covered the plain from the point where they stood way up to thewalls of the mysterious city. No pathways through them could be seen at all;here the soft grass ended and the growth of thistles began. “They’re theprickliest thistles I ever felt,” grumbled the Lion. “My legs smart yet fromtheir stings, though I jumped out of them as quickly as I could.”

“Here is a new difficulty,” remarked the Wizard in a grieved tone. “The cityhas stopped hopping around, it is true, but how are we to get to it over thismass of prickers?”

“They can’t hurt ME,” said the thick-skinned Woozy, advancing fearlessly andtrampling among the thistles.

“Nor me,” said the Wooden Sawhorse.

“But the Lion and the Mule cannot stand the prickers,” asserted Dorothy, “andwe can’t leave them behind.”

“Must we all go back?” asked Trot.

“Course not!” replied Button-Bright scornfully. “Always when there’s trouble,there’s a way out of it if you can find it.”

“I wish the Scarecrow was here,” said Scraps, standing on her head on theWoozy’s square back. “His splendid brains would soon show us how to conquerthis field of thistles.”

“What’s the matter with YOUR brains?” asked the boy.

“Nothing,” she said, making a flip-flop into the thistles and dancing amongthem without feeling their sharp points. “I could tell you in half a minute howto get over the thistles if I wanted to.”

“Tell us, Scraps!” begged Dorothy.

“I don’t want to wear my brains out with overwork,” replied the Patchwork Girl.

“Don’t you love Ozma? And don’t you want to find her?” asked Betsyreproachfully.

“Yes indeed,” said Scraps, walking on her hands as an acrobat does at thecircus.

“Well, we can’t find Ozma unless we get past these thistles,” declared Dorothy.

Scraps danced around them two or three times without reply. Then she said,“Don’t look at me, you stupid folks. Look at those blankets.”

The Wizard’s face brightened at once.

“Why didn’t we think of those blankets before?”

“Because you haven’t magic brains,” laughed Scraps. “Such brains as you haveare of the common sort that grow in your heads, like weeds in a garden. I’msorry for you people who have to be born in order to be alive.”

But the Wizard was not listening to her. He quickly removed the blankets fromthe back of the Sawhorse and spread one of them upon the thistles, just nextthe grass. The thick cloth rendered the prickers harmless, so the Wizard walkedover this first blanket and spread the second one farther on, in the directionof the phantom city. “These blankets,” said he, “are for the Lion and the Muleto walk upon. The Sawhorse and the Woozy can walk on the thistles.”

So the Lion and the Mule walked over the first blanket and stood upon thesecond one until the Wizard had picked up the one they had passed over andspread it in front of them, when they advanced to that one and waited while theone behind them was again spread in front. “This is slow work,” said theWizard, “but it will get us to the city after a while.”

“The city is a good half mile away yet,” announced Button-Bright.

“And this is awful hard work for the Wizard,” added Trot.

“Why couldn’t the Lion ride on the Woozy’s back?” asked Dorothy. “It’s a big,flat back, and the Woozy’s mighty strong. Perhaps the Lion wouldn’t fall off.”

“You may try it if you like,” said the Woozy to the Lion. “I can take you tothe city in a jiffy and then come back for Hank.”

“I’m—I’m afraid,” said the Cowardly Lion. He was twice as big as the Woozy.

“Try it,” pleaded Dorothy.

“And take a tumble among the thistles?” asked the Lion reproachfully.

But when the Woozy came close to him, the big beast suddenly bounded upon itsback and managed to balance himself there, although forced to hold his fourlegs so close together that he was in danger of toppling over. The great weightof the monster Lion did not seem to affect the Woozy, who called to his rider,“Hold on tight!” and ran swiftly over the thistles toward the city.

The others stood on the blanket and watched the strange sight anxiously. Ofcourse, the Lion couldn’t “hold on tight” because there was nothing to hold to,and he swayed from side to side as if likely to fall off any moment. Still, hemanaged to stick to the Woozy’s back until they were close to the walls of thecity, when he leaped to the ground. Next moment the Woozy came dashing back atfull speed.

“There’s a little strip of ground next the wall where there are no thistles,”he told them when he had reached the adventurers once more. “Now then, friendHank, see if you can ride as well as the Lion did.”

“Take the others first,” proposed the Mule. So the Sawhorse and the Woozy madea couple of trips over the thistles to the city walls and carried all thepeople in safety, Dorothy holding little Toto in her arms. The travelers thensat in a group on a little hillock just outside the wall and looked at thegreat blocks of gray stone and waited for the Woozy to bring Hank to them. TheMule was very awkward, and his legs trembled so badly that more than once theythought he would tumble off, but finally he reached them in safety, and theentire party was now reunited. More than that, they had reached the city thathad eluded them for so long and in so strange a manner.

“The gates must be around the other side,” said the Wizard. “Let us follow thecurve of the wall until we reach an opening in it.”

“Which way?” asked Dorothy.

“We must guess that,” he replied. “Suppose we go to the left. One direction isas good as another.” They formed in marching order and went around the citywall to the left. It wasn’t a big city, as I have said, but to go way around itoutside the high wall was quite a walk, as they became aware. But around it ouradventurers went without finding any sign of a gateway or other opening. Whenthey had returned to the little mound from which they had started, theydismounted from the animals and again seated themselves on the grassy mound.

“It’s mighty queer, isn’t it?” asked Button-Bright.

“There must be SOME way for the people to get out and in,” declared Dorothy.“Do you s’pose they have flying machines, Wizard?”

“No,” he replied, “for in that case they would be flying all over the Land ofOz, and we know they have not done that. Flying machines are unknown here. Ithink it more likely that the people use ladders to get over the walls.”

“It would be an awful climb over that high stone wall,” said Betsy.

“Stone, is it?” Scraps, who was again dancing wildly around, for she nevertired and could never keep still for long.

“Course it’s stone,” answered Betsy scornfully. “Can’t you see?”

“Yes,” said Scraps, going closer. “I can SEE the wall, but I can’t FEEL it.”And then, with her arms outstretched, she did a very queer thing. She walkedright into the wall and disappeared.

“For goodness sake!” Dorothy, amazed, as indeed they all were.

CHAPTER 9
THE HIGH COCO-LORUM OF THI

And now the Patchwork Girl came dancing out of the wall again.

“Come on!” she called. “It isn’t there. There isn’t any wall at all.”

“What? No wall?” exclaimed the Wizard.

“Nothing like it,” said Scraps. “It’s a make-believe. You see it, but it isn’t.Come on into the city; we’ve been wasting our time.”

With this, she danced into the wall again and once more disappeared.Button-Bright, who was rather venture-some, dashed away after her and alsobecame invisible to them. The others followed more cautiously, stretching outtheir hands to feel the wall and finding, to their astonishment, that theycould feel nothing because nothing opposed them. They walked on a few steps andfound themselves in the streets of a very beautiful city. Behind them theyagain saw the wall, grim and forbidding as ever, but now they knew it wasmerely an illusion prepared to keep strangers from entering the city.

But the wall was soon forgotten, for in front of them were a number of quaintpeople who stared at them in amazement as if wondering where they had comefrom. Our friends forgot their good manners for a time and returned the stareswith interest, for so remarkable a people had never before been discovered inall the remarkable Land of Oz.

Their heads were shaped like diamonds, and their bodies like hearts. All thehair they had was a little bunch at the tip top of their diamond-shaped heads,and their eyes were very large and round, and their noses and mouths verysmall. Their clothing was tight fitting and of brilliant colors, beinghandsomely embroidered in quaint designs with gold or silver threads; but ontheir feet they wore sandals with no stockings whatever. The expression oftheir faces was pleasant enough, although they now showed surprise at theappearance of strangers so unlike themselves, and our friends thought theyseemed quite harmless.

“I beg your pardon,” said the Wizard, speaking for his party, “for intrudingupon you uninvited, but we are traveling on important business and find itnecessary to visit your city. Will you kindly tell us by what name your city iscalled?”

They looked at one another uncertainly, each expecting some other to answer.Finally, a short one whose heart-shaped body was very broad replied, “We haveno occasion to call our city anything. It is where we live, that is all.”

“But by what name do others call your city?” asked the Wizard.

“We know of no others except yourselves,” said the man. And then he inquired,“Were you born with those queer forms you have, or has some cruel magiciantransformed you to them from your natural shapes?”

“These are our natural shapes,” declared the Wizard, “and we consider them verygood shapes, too.”

The group of inhabitants was constantly being enlarged by others who joined it.All were evidently startled and uneasy at the arrival of strangers.

“Have you a King?” asked Dorothy, who knew it was better to speak with someonein authority.

But the man shook his diamond-like head. “What is a King?” he asked.

“Isn’t there anyone who rules over you?” inquired the Wizard.

“No,” was the reply, “each of us rules himself, or at least tries to do so. Itis not an easy thing to do, as you probably know.”

The Wizard reflected.

“If you have disputes among you,” said he after a little thought, “who settlesthem?”

“The High Coco-Lorum,” they answered in a chorus.

“And who is he?”

“The judge who enforces the laws,” said the man who had first spoken.

“Then he is the principal person here?” continued the Wizard.

“Well, I would not say that,” returned the man in a puzzled way. “The HighCoco-Lorum is a public servant. However, he represents the laws, which we mustall obey.”

“I think,” said the Wizard, “we ought to see your High Coco-Lorum and talk withhim. Our mission here requires us to consult one high in authority, and theHigh Coco-Lorum ought to be high, whatever else he is.”

The inhabitants seemed to consider this proposition reasonable, for they noddedtheir diamond-shaped heads in approval. So the broad one who had been theirspokesman said, “Follow me,” and turning led the way along one of the streets.The entire party followed him, the natives falling in behind. The dwellingsthey passed were quite nicely planned and seemed comfortable and convenient.After leading them a few blocks, their conductor stopped before a house whichwas neither better nor worse than the others. The doorway was shaped to admitthe strangely formed bodies of these people, being narrow at the top, broad inthe middle and tapering at the bottom. The windows were made in much the sameway, giving the house a most peculiar appearance. When their guide opened thegate, a music box concealed in the gatepost began to play, and the soundattracted the attention of the High Coco-Lorum, who appeared at an open windowand inquired, “What has happened now?”

But in the same moment his eyes fell upon the strangers and he hastened to openthe door and admit them—all but the animals, which were left outside with thethrong of natives that had now gathered. For a small city there seemed to be alarge number of inhabitants, but they did not try to enter the house andcontented themselves with staring curiously at the strange animals. Totofollowed Dorothy.

Our friends entered a large room at the front of the house, where the HighCoco-Lorum asked them to be seated. “I hope your mission here is a peacefulone,” he said, looking a little worried, “for the Thists are not very goodfighters and object to being conquered.”

“Are your people called Thists?” asked Dorothy.

“Yes. I thought you knew that. And we call our city Thi.”

“Oh!”

“We are Thists because we eat thistles, you know,” continued the HighCoco-Lorum.

“Do you really eat those prickly things?” inquired Button-Bright wonderingly.

“Why not?” replied the other. “The sharp points of the thistles cannot hurt us,because all our insides are gold-lined.”

“Gold-lined!”

“To be sure. Our throats and stomachs are lined with solid gold, and we findthe thistles nourishing and good to eat. As a matter of fact, there is nothingelse in our country that is fit for food. All around the City of Thi growcountless thistles, and all we need do is to go and gather them. If we wantedanything else to eat, we would have to plant it, and grow it, and harvest it,and that would be a lot of trouble and make us work, which is an occupation wedetest.”

“But tell me, please,” said the Wizard, “how does it happen that your cityjumps around so, from one part of the country to another?”

“The city doesn’t jump. It doesn’t move at all,” declared the High Coco-Lorum.“However, I will admit that the land that surrounds it has a trick of turningthis way or that, and so if one is standing upon the plain and facing north, heis likely to find himself suddenly facing west or east or south. But once youreach the thistle fields, you are on solid ground.”

“Ah, I begin to understand,” said the Wizard, nodding his head. “But I haveanother question to ask: How does it happen that the Thists have no King torule over them?”

“Hush!” whispered the High Coco-Lorum, looking uneasily around to make surethey were not overheard. “In reality, I am the King, but the people don’t knowit. They think they rule themselves, but the fact is I have everything my ownway. No one else knows anything about our laws, and so I make the laws to suitmyself. If any oppose me or question my acts, I tell them it’s the law and thatsettles it. If I called myself King, however, and wore a crown and lived inroyal style, the people would not like me and might do me harm. As the HighCoco-Lorum of Thi, I am considered a very agreeable person.”

“It seems a very clever arrangement,” said the Wizard. “And now, as you are theprincipal person in Thi, I beg you to tell us if the Royal Ozma is a captive inyour city.”

“No,” answered the diamond-headed man. “We have no captives. No strangers butyourselves are here, and we have never before heard of the Royal Ozma.”

“She rules over all of Oz,” said Dorothy, “and so she rules your city and you,because you are in the Winkie Country, which is a part of the Land of Oz.”

“It may be,” returned the High Coco-Lorum, “for we do not study geography andhave never inquired whether we live in the Land of Oz or not. And any Ruler whorules us from a distance and unknown to us is welcome to the job. But what hashappened to your Royal Ozma?”

“Someone has stolen her,” said the Wizard. “Do you happen to have any talentedmagician among your people, one who is especially clever, you know?”

“No, none especially clever. We do some magic, of course, but it is all of theordinary kind. I do not think any of us has yet aspired to stealing Rulers,either by magic or otherwise.”

“Then we’ve come a long way for nothing!” exclaimed Trot regretfully.

“But we are going farther than this,” asserted the Patchwork Girl, bending herstuffed body backward until her yarn hair touched the floor and then walkingaround on her hands with her feet in the air.

The High Coco-Lorum watched Scraps admiringly.

“You may go farther on, of course,” said he, “but I advise you not to. TheHerkus live back of us, beyond the thistles and the twisting lands, and theyare not very nice people to meet, I assure you.”

“Are they giants?” asked Betsy.

“They are worse than that,” was the reply. “They have giants for their slavesand they are so much stronger than giants that the poor slaves dare not rebelfor fear of being torn to pieces.”

“How do you know?” asked Scraps.

“Everyone says so,” answered the High Coco-Lorum.

“Have you seen the Herkus yourself?” inquired Dorothy.

“No, but what everyone says must be true, otherwise what would be the use oftheir saying it?”

“We were told before we got here that you people hitch dragons to yourchariots,” said the little girl.

“So we do,” declared the High Coco-Lorum. “And that reminds me that I ought toentertain you as strangers and my guests by taking you for a ride around oursplendid City of Thi.” He touched a button, and a band began to play. At least,they heard the music of a band, but couldn’t tell where it came from. “Thattune is the order to my charioteer to bring around my dragon-chariot,” said theHigh Coco-Lorum. “Every time I give an order, it is in music, which is a muchmore pleasant way to address servants than in cold, stern words.”

“Does this dragon of yours bite?” asked Button-Bright.

“Mercy no! Do you think I’d risk the safety of my innocent people by using abiting dragon to draw my chariot? I’m proud to say that my dragon is harmless,unless his steering gear breaks, and he was manufactured at the famous dragonfactory in this City of Thi. Here he comes, and you may examine him foryourselves.”

They heard a low rumble and a shrill squeaking sound, and going out to thefront of the house, they saw coming around the corner a car drawn by a gorgeousjeweled dragon, which moved its head to right and left and flashed its eyeslike headlights of an automobile and uttered a growling noise as it slowlymoved toward them. When it stopped before the High Coco-Lorum’s house, Totobarked sharply at the sprawling beast, but even tiny Trot could see that thedragon was not alive. Its scales were of gold, and each one was set withsparkling jewels, while it walked in such a stiff, regular manner that it couldbe nothing else than a machine. The chariot that trailed behind it was likewiseof gold and jewels, and when they entered it, they found there were no seats.Everyone was supposed to stand up while riding. The charioteer was a little,diamond-headed fellow who straddled the neck of the dragon and moved the leversthat made it go.

“This,” said the High Coco-Lorum pompously, “is a wonderful invention. We areall very proud of our auto-dragons, many of which are in use by our wealthyinhabitants. Start the thing going, charioteer!”

The charioteer did not move.

“You forgot to order him in music,” suggested Dorothy.

“Ah, so I did.”

He touched a button and a music box in the dragon’s head began to play a tune.At once the little charioteer pulled over a lever, and the dragon began tomove, very slowly and groaning dismally as it drew the clumsy chariot after it.Toto trotted between the wheels. The Sawhorse, the Mule, the Lion and the Woozyfollowed after and had no trouble in keeping up with the machine. Indeed, theyhad to go slow to keep from running into it. When the wheels turned, anothermusic box concealed somewhere under the chariot played a lively march tunewhich was in striking contrast with the dragging movement of the strangevehicle, and Button-Bright decided that the music he had heard when they firstsighted this city was nothing else than a chariot plodding its weary waythrough the streets.

All the travelers from the Emerald City thought this ride the mostuninteresting and dreary they had ever experienced, but the High Coco-Lorumseemed to think it was grand. He pointed out the different buildings and parksand fountains in much the same way that the conductor does on an American“sightseeing wagon” does, and being guests they were obliged to submit to theordeal. But they became a little worried when their host told them he hadordered a banquet prepared for them in the City Hall.

“What are we going to eat?” asked Button-Bright suspiciously.

“Thistles,” was the reply. “Fine, fresh thistles, gathered this very day.”

Scraps laughed, for she never ate anything, but Dorothy said in a protestingvoice, “OUR insides are not lined with gold, you know.”

“How sad!” exclaimed the High Coco-Lorum, and then he added as an afterthought,“but we can have the thistles boiled, if you prefer.”

“I’m ’fraid they wouldn’t taste good even then,” said little Trot. “Haven’t youanything else to eat?”

The High Coco-Lorum shook his diamond-shaped head.

“Nothing that I know of,” said he. “But why should we have anything else whenwe have so many thistles? However, if you can’t eat what we eat, don’t eatanything. We shall not be offended, and the banquet will be just as merry anddelightful.”

Knowing his companions were all hungry, the Wizard said, “I trust you willexcuse us from the banquet, sir, which will be merry enough without us,although it is given in our honor. For, as Ozma is not in your city, we mustleave here at once and seek her elsewhere.”

“Sure we must!” Dorothy, and she whispered to Betsy and Trot, “I’d ratherstarve somewhere else than in this city, and who knows, we may run acrosssomebody who eats reg’lar food and will give us some.”

So when the ride was finished, in spite of the protests of the High Coco-Lorum,they insisted on continuing their journey. “It will soon be dark,” he objected.

“We don’t mind the darkness,” replied the Wizard.

“Some wandering Herku may get you.”

“Do you think the Herkus would hurt us?” asked Dorothy.

“I cannot say, not having had the honor of their acquaintance. But they aresaid to be so strong that if they had any other place to stand upon they couldlift the world.”

“All of them together?” asked Button-Bright wonderingly.

“Any one of them could do it,” said the High Coco-Lorum.

“Have you heard of any magicians being among them?” asked the Wizard, knowingthat only a magician could have stolen Ozma in the way she had been stolen.

“I am told it is quite a magical country,” declared the High Coco-Lorum, “andmagic is usually performed by magicians. But I have never heard that they haveany invention or sorcery to equal our wonderful auto-dragons.”

They thanked him for his courtesy, and mounting their own animals rode to thefarther side of the city and right through the Wall of Illusion out into theopen country. “I’m glad we got away so easily,” said Betsy. “I didn’t likethose queer-shaped people.”

“Nor did I,” agreed Dorothy. “It seems dreadful to be lined with sheets of puregold and have nothing to eat but thistles.”

“They seemed happy and contented, though,” remarked the Wizard, “and those whoare contented have nothing to regret and nothing more to wish for.”

CHAPTER 10
TOTO LOSES SOMETHING

For a while the travelers were constantly losing their direction, for beyondthe thistle fields they again found themselves upon the turning-lands, whichswung them around one way and then another. But by keeping the City of Thiconstantly behind them, the adventurers finally passed the treacherousturning-lands and came upon a stony country where no grass grew at all. Therewere plenty of bushes, however, and although it was now almost dark, the girlsdiscovered some delicious yellow berries growing upon the bushes, one taste ofwhich set them all to picking as many as they could find. The berries relievedtheir pangs of hunger for a time, and as it now became too dark to seeanything, they camped where they were.

The three girls lay down upon one of the blankets—all in a row—and the Wizardcovered them with the other blanket and tucked them in. Button-Bright crawledunder the shelter of some bushes and was asleep in half a minute. The Wizardsat down with his back to a big stone and looked at the stars in the sky andthought gravely upon the dangerous adventure they had undertaken, wondering ifthey would ever be able to find their beloved Ozma again. The animals lay in agroup by themselves, a little distance from the others.

“I’ve lost my growl!” said Toto, who had been very silent and sober all thatday. “What do you suppose has become of it?”

“If you had asked me to keep track of your growl, I might be able to tell you,”remarked the Lion sleepily. “But frankly, Toto, I supposed you were taking careof it yourself.”

“It’s an awful thing to lose one’s growl,” said Toto, wagging his taildisconsolately. “What if you lost your roar, Lion? Wouldn’t you feel terrible?”

“My roar,” replied the Lion, “is the fiercest thing about me. I depend on it tofrighten my enemies so badly that they won’t dare to fight me.”

“Once,” said the Mule, “I lost my bray so that I couldn’t call to Betsy to lether know I was hungry. That was before I could talk, you know, for I had notyet come into the Land of Oz, and I found it was certainly very uncomfortablenot to be able to make a noise.”

“You make enough noise now,” declared Toto. “But none of you have answered myquestion: Where is my growl?”

“You may search ME,” said the Woozy. “I don’t care for such things, myself.”

“You snore terribly,” asserted Toto.

“It may be,” said the Woozy. “What one does when asleep one is not accountablefor. I wish you would wake me up sometime when I’m snoring and let me hear thesound. Then I can judge whether it is terrible or delightful.”

“It isn’t pleasant, I assure you,” said the Lion, yawning.

“To me it seems wholly unnecessary,” declared Hank the Mule.

“You ought to break yourself of the habit,” said the Sawhorse. “You never hearme snore, because I never sleep. I don’t even whinny as those puffy meat horsesdo. I wish that whoever stole Toto’s growl had taken the Mule’s bray and theLion’s roar and the Woozy’s snore at the same time.”

“Do you think, then, that my growl was stolen?”

“You have never lost it before, have you?” inquired the Sawhorse.

“Only once, when I had a sore throat from barking too long at the moon.”

“Is your throat sore now?” asked the Woozy.

“No,” replied the dog.

“I can’t understand,” said Hank, “why dogs bark at the moon. They can’t scarethe moon, and the moon doesn’t pay any attention to the bark. So why do dogs doit?”

“Were you ever a dog?” asked Toto.

“No indeed,” replied Hank. “I am thankful to say I was created a mule—the mostbeautiful of all beasts—and have always remained one.”

The Woozy sat upon his square haunches to examine Hank with care. “Beauty,” hesaid, “must be a matter of taste. I don’t say your judgment is bad, friendHank, or that you are so vulgar as to be conceited. But if you admire big,waggy ears and a tail like a paintbrush and hoofs big enough for an elephantand a long neck and a body so skinny that one can count the ribs with one eyeshut—if that’s your idea of beauty, Hank, then either you or I must be muchmistaken.”

“You’re full of edges,” sneered the Mule. “If I were square as you are, Isuppose you’d think me lovely.”

“Outwardly, dear Hank, I would,” replied the Woozy. “But to be really lovely,one must be beautiful without and within.”

The Mule couldn’t deny this statement, so he gave a disgusted grunt and rolledover so that his back was toward the Woozy. But the Lion, regarding the twocalmly with his great, yellow eyes, said to the dog, “My dear Toto, our friendshave taught us a lesson in humility. If the Woozy and the Mule are indeedbeautiful creatures as they seem to think, you and I must be decidedly ugly.”

“Not to ourselves,” protested Toto, who was a shrewd little dog. “You and I,Lion, are fine specimens of our own races. I am a fine dog, and you are a finelion. Only in point of comparison, one with another, can we be properly judged,so I will leave it to the poor old Sawhorse to decide which is the mostbeautiful animal among us all. The Sawhorse is wood, so he won’t be prejudicedand will speak the truth.”

“I surely will,” responded the Sawhorse, wagging his ears, which were chips setin his wooden head. “Are you all agreed to accept my judgment?”

“We are!” they declared, each one hopeful.

“Then,” said the Sawhorse, “I must point out to you the fact that you are allmeat creatures, who tire unless they sleep and starve unless they eat andsuffer from thirst unless they drink. Such animals must be very imperfect, andimperfect creatures cannot be beautiful. Now, I am made of wood.”

“You surely have a wooden head,” said the Mule.

“Yes, and a wooden body and wooden legs, which are as swift as the wind and astireless. I’ve heard Dorothy say that ‘handsome is as handsome does,’ and Isurely perform my duties in a handsome manner. Therefore, if you wish my honestjudgment, I will confess that among us all I am the most beautiful.”

The Mule snorted, and the Woozy laughed; Toto had lost his growl and could onlylook scornfully at the Sawhorse, who stood in his place unmoved. But the Lionstretched himself and yawned, saying quietly, “Were we all like the Sawhorse,we would all be Sawhorses, which would be too many of the kind. Were we alllike Hank, we would be a herd of mules; if like Toto, we would be a pack ofdogs; should we all become the shape of the Woozy, he would no longer beremarkable for his unusual appearance. Finally, were you all like me, I wouldconsider you so common that I would not care to associate with you. To beindividual, my friends, to be different from others, is the only way to becomedistinguished from the common herd. Let us be glad, therefore, that we differfrom one another in form and in disposition. Variety is the spice of life, andwe are various enough to enjoy one another’s society; so let us be content.”

“There is some truth in that speech,” remarked Toto reflectively. “But howabout my lost growl?”

“The growl is of importance only to you,” responded the Lion, “so it is yourbusiness to worry over the loss, not ours. If you love us, do not afflict yourburdens on us; be unhappy all by yourself.”

“If the same person stole my growl who stole Ozma,” said the little dog, “Ihope we shall find him very soon and punish him as he deserves. He must be themost cruel person in all the world, for to prevent a dog from growling when itis his nature to growl is just as wicked, in my opinion, as stealing all themagic in Oz.”

CHAPTER 11
BUTTON-BRIGHT LOSES HIMSELF

The Patchwork Girl, who never slept and who could see very well in the dark,had wandered among the rocks and bushes all night long, with the result thatshe was able to tell some good news the next morning. “Over the crest of thehill before us,” she said, “is a big grove of trees of many kinds on which allsorts of fruits grow. If you will go there, you will find a nice breakfastawaiting you.” This made them eager to start, so as soon as the blankets werefolded and strapped to the back of the Sawhorse, they all took their places onthe animals and set out for the big grove Scraps had told them of.

As soon as they got over the brow of the hill, they discovered it to be areally immense orchard, extending for miles to the right and left of them. Astheir way led straight through the trees, they hurried forward as fast aspossible. The first trees they came to bore quinces, which they did not like.Then there were rows of citron trees and then crab apples and afterward limesand lemons. But beyond these they found a grove of big, golden oranges, juicyand sweet, and the fruit hung low on the branches so they could pluck iteasily.

They helped themselves freely and all ate oranges as they continued on theirway. Then, a little farther along, they came to some trees bearing fine, redapples, which they also feasted on, and the Wizard stopped here long enough totie a lot of the apples in one end of a blanket.

“We do not know what will happen to us after we leave this delightful orchard,”he said, “so I think it wise to carry a supply of apples with us. We can’tstarve as long as we have apples, you know.”

Scraps wasn’t riding the Woozy just now. She loved to climb the trees and swingherself by the branches from one tree to another. Some of the choicest fruitwas gathered by the Patchwork Girl from the very highest limbs and tossed downto the others. Suddenly, Trot asked, “Where’s Button-Bright?” and when theothers looked for him, they found the boy had disappeared.

“Dear me!” cried Dorothy. “I guess he’s lost again, and that will mean ourwaiting here until we can find him.”

“It’s a good place to wait,” suggested Betsy, who had found a plum tree and waseating some of its fruit.

“How can you wait here and find Button-Bright at one and the same time?”inquired the Patchwork Girl, hanging by her toes on a limb just over the headsof the three mortal girls.

“Perhaps he’ll come back here,” answered Dorothy.

“If he tries that, he’ll prob’ly lose his way,” said Trot. “I’ve known him todo that lots of times. It’s losing his way that gets him lost.”

“Very true,” said the Wizard. “So all the rest of you must stay here while I golook for the boy.”

“Won’t YOU get lost, too?” asked Betsy.

“I hope not, my dear.”

“Let ME go,” said Scraps, dropping lightly to the ground. “I can’t get lost,and I’m more likely to find Button-Bright than any of you.” Without waiting forpermission, she darted away through the trees and soon disappeared from theirview.

“Dorothy,” said Toto, squatting beside his little mistress, “I’ve lost mygrowl.”

“How did that happen?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” replied Toto. “Yesterday morning the Woozy nearly stepped onme, and I tried to growl at him and found I couldn’t growl a bit.”

“Can you bark?” inquired Dorothy.

“Oh, yes indeed.”

“Then never mind the growl,” said she.

“But what will I do when I get home to the Glass Cat and the Pink Kitten?”asked the little dog in an anxious tone.

“They won’t mind if you can’t growl at them, I’m sure,” said Dorothy. “I’msorry for you, of course, Toto, for it’s just those things we can’t do that wewant to do most of all; but before we get back, you may find your growl again.”

“Do you think the person who stole Ozma stole my growl?”

Dorothy smiled.

“Perhaps, Toto.”

“Then he’s a scoundrel!” cried the little dog.

“Anyone who would steal Ozma is as bad as bad can be,” agreed Dorothy, “andwhen we remember that our dear friend, the lovely Ruler of Oz, is lost, weought not to worry over just a growl.”

Toto was not entirely satisfied with this remark, for the more he thought uponhis lost growl, the more important his misfortune became. When no one waslooking, he went away among the trees and tried his best to growl—even a littlebit—but could not manage to do so. All he could do was bark, and a bark cannottake the place of a growl, so he sadly returned to the others.

Now Button-Bright had no idea that he was lost at first. He had merely wanderedfrom tree to tree seeking the finest fruit until he discovered he was alone inthe great orchard. But that didn’t worry him just then, and seeing some apricottrees farther on, he went to them. Then he discovered some cherry trees; justbeyond these were some tangerines. “We’ve found ’most ev’ry kind of fruit butpeaches,” he said to himself, “so I guess there are peaches here, too, if I canfind the trees.”

He searched here and there, paying no attention to his way, until he found thatthe trees surrounding him bore only nuts. He put some walnuts in his pocketsand kept on searching, and at last—right among the nut trees—he came upon onesolitary peach tree. It was a graceful, beautiful tree, but although it wasthickly leaved, it bore no fruit except one large, splendid peach, rosy-cheekedand fuzzy and just right to eat.

Button-Bright had some trouble getting that lonesome peach, for it hung far outof reach; but he climbed the tree nimbly and crept out on the branch on whichit grew and after several trials, during which he was in danger of falling, hefinally managed to pick it. Then he got back to the ground and decided thefruit was well worth his trouble. It was delightfully fragrant and when he bitinto it he found it the most delicious morsel he had ever tasted.

“I really ought to divide it with Trot and Dorothy and Betsy,” he said; “butp’rhaps there are plenty more in some other part of the orchard.”

In his heart he doubted this statement, for this was a solitary peach tree,while all the other fruits grew upon many trees set close to one another; butthat one luscious bite made him unable to resist eating the rest of it, andsoon the peach was all gone except the pit. Button-Bright was about to throwthis peach pit away when he noticed that it was of pure gold. Of course, thissurprised him, but so many things in the Land of Oz were surprising that he didnot give much thought to the golden peach pit. He put it in his pocket,however, to show to the girls, and five minutes afterward had forgotten allabout it.

For now he realized that he was far separated from his companions, and knowingthat this would worry them and delay their journey, he began to shout as loudas he could. His voice did not penetrate very far among all those trees, andafter shouting a dozen times and getting no answer, he sat down on the groundand said, “Well, I’m lost again. It’s too bad, but I don’t see how it can behelped.”

As he leaned his back against a tree, he looked up and saw a Bluefinch fly downfrom the sky and alight upon a branch just before him. The bird looked andlooked at him. First it looked with one bright eye and then turned its head andlooked at him with the other eye. Then, fluttering its wings a little, it said,“Oho! So you’ve eaten the enchanted peach, have you?”

“Was it enchanted?” asked Button-Bright.

“Of course,” replied the Bluefinch. “Ugu the Shoemaker did that.”

“But why? And how was it enchanted? And what will happen to one who eats it?”questioned the boy.

“Ask Ugu the Shoemaker. He knows,” said the bird, preening its feathers withits bill.

“And who is Ugu the Shoemaker?”

“The one who enchanted the peach and placed it here—in the exact center of theGreat Orchard—so no one would ever find it. We birds didn’t dare to eat it; weare too wise for that. But you are Button-Bright from the Emerald City, andyou, YOU, YOU ate the enchanted peach! You must explain to Ugu the Shoemakerwhy you did that.”

And then, before the boy could ask any more questions, the bird flew away andleft him alone.

Button-Bright was not much worried to find that the peach he had eaten wasenchanted. It certainly had tasted very good, and his stomach didn’t ache abit. So again he began to reflect upon the best way to rejoin his friends.“Whichever direction I follow is likely to be the wrong one,” he said tohimself, “so I’d better stay just where I am and let THEM find ME—if they can.”

A White Rabbit came hopping through the orchard and paused a little way off tolook at him. “Don’t be afraid,” said Button-Bright. “I won’t hurt you.”

“Oh, I’m not afraid for myself,” returned the White Rabbit. “It’s you I’mworried about.”

“Yes, I’m lost,” said the boy.

“I fear you are, indeed,” answered the Rabbit. “Why on earth did you eat theenchanted peach?”

The boy looked at the excited little animal thoughtfully. “There were tworeasons,” he explained. “One reason was that I like peaches, and the otherreason was that I didn’t know it was enchanted.”

“That won’t save you from Ugu the Shoemaker,” declared the White Rabbit, and itscurried away before the boy could ask any more questions.

“Rabbits and birds,” he thought, “are timid creatures and seem afraid of thisshoemaker, whoever he may be. If there was another peach half as good as thatother, I’d eat it in spite of a dozen enchantments or a hundred shoemakers!”

Just then, Scraps came dancing along and saw him sitting at the foot of thetree. “Oh, here you are!” she said. “Up to your old tricks, eh? Don’t you knowit’s impolite to get lost and keep everybody waiting for you? Come along, andI’ll lead you back to Dorothy and the others.”

Button-Bright rose slowly to accompany her.

“That wasn’t much of a loss,” he said cheerfully. “I haven’t been gone half aday, so there’s no harm done.”

Dorothy, however, when the boy rejoined the party, gave him a good scolding.“When we’re doing such an important thing as searching for Ozma,” said she,“it’s naughty for you to wander away and keep us from getting on. S’pose she’sa pris’ner in a dungeon cell! Do you want to keep our dear Ozma there anylonger than we can help?”

“If she’s in a dungeon cell, how are you going to get her out?” inquired theboy.

“Never you mind. We’ll leave that to the Wizard. He’s sure to find a way.”

The Wizard said nothing, for he realized that without his magic tools he coulddo no more than any other person. But there was no use reminding his companionsof that fact; it might discourage them. “The important thing just now,” heremarked, “is to find Ozma, and as our party is again happily reunited, Ipropose we move on.”

As they came to the edge of the Great Orchard, the sun was setting and theyknew it would soon be dark. So it was decided to camp under the trees, asanother broad plain was before them. The Wizard spread the blankets on a bed ofsoft leaves, and presently all of them except Scraps and the Sawhorse were fastasleep. Toto snuggled close to his friend the Lion, and the Woozy snored soloudly that the Patchwork Girl covered his square head with her apron to deadenthe sound.

CHAPTER 12
THE CZAROVER OF HERKU

Trot wakened just as the sun rose, and slipping out of the blankets, went tothe edge of the Great Orchard and looked across the plain. Something glitteredin the far distance. “That looks like another city,” she said half aloud.

“And another city it is,” declared Scraps, who had crept to Trot’s sideunheard, for her stuffed feet made no sound. “The Sawhorse and I made a journeyin the dark while you were all asleep, and we found over there a bigger citythan Thi. There’s a wall around it, too, but it has gates and plenty ofpathways.”

“Did you get in?” asked Trot.

“No, for the gates were locked and the wall was a real wall. So we came backhere again. It isn’t far to the city. We can reach it in two hours after you’vehad your breakfasts.”

Trot went back, and finding the other girls now awake, told them what Scrapshad said. So they hurriedly ate some fruit—there were plenty of plums andfijoas in this part of the orchard—and then they mounted the animals and setout upon the journey to the strange city. Hank the Mule had breakfasted ongrass, and the Lion had stolen away and found a breakfast to his liking; henever told what it was, but Dorothy hoped the little rabbits and the field micehad kept out of his way. She warned Toto not to chase birds and gave the dogsome apple, with which he was quite content. The Woozy was as fond of fruit asof any other food except honey, and the Sawhorse never ate at all.

Except for their worry over Ozma, they were all in good spirits as theyproceeded swiftly over the plain. Toto still worried over his lost growl, butlike a wise little dog kept his worry to himself. Before long, the city grewnearer and they could examine it with interest.

In outward appearance the place was more imposing than Thi, and it was a squarecity, with a square, four-sided wall around it, and on each side was a squaregate of burnished copper. Everything about the city looked solid andsubstantial; there were no banners flying, and the towers that rose above thecity wall seemed bare of any ornament whatever.

A path led from the fruit orchard directly to one of the city gates, showingthat the inhabitants preferred fruit to thistles. Our friends followed thispath to the gate, which they found fast shut. But the Wizard advanced andpounded upon it with his fist, saying in a loud voice, “Open!”

At once there rose above the great wall a row of immense heads, all of whichlooked down at them as if to see who was intruding. The size of these heads wasastonishing, and our friends at once realized that they belonged to giants whowere standing within the city. All had thick, bushy hair and whiskers, on somethe hair being white and on others black or red or yellow, while the hair of afew was just turning gray, showing that the giants were of all ages. Howeverfierce the heads might seem, the eyes were mild in expression, as if thecreatures had been long subdued, and their faces expressed patience rather thanferocity.

“What’s wanted?” asked one old giant in a low, grumbling voice.

“We are strangers, and we wish to enter the city,” replied the Wizard.

“Do you come in war or peace?” asked another.

“In peace, of course,” retorted the Wizard, and he added impatiently, “Do welook like an army of conquest?”

“No,” said the first giant who had spoken, “you look like innocent tramps; butyou never can tell by appearances. Wait here until we report to our masters. Noone can enter here without the permission of Vig, the Czarover.”

“Who’s that?” inquired Dorothy.

But the heads had all bobbed down and disappeared behind the walls, so therewas no answer. They waited a long time before the gate rolled back with arumbling sound, and a loud voice cried, “Enter!” But they lost no time intaking advantage of the invitation.

On either side of the broad street that led into the city from the gate stood arow of huge giants, twenty of them on a side and all standing so close togetherthat their elbows touched. They wore uniforms of blue and yellow and were armedwith clubs as big around as treetrunks. Each giant had around his neck a broadband of gold, riveted on, to show he was a slave.

As our friends entered riding upon the Lion, the Woozy, the Sawhorse and theMule, the giants half turned and walked in two files on either side of them, asif escorting them on their way. It looked to Dorothy as if all her party hadbeen made prisoners, for even mounted on their animals their heads scarcelyreached to the knees of the marching giants. The girls and Button-Bright wereanxious to know what sort of a city they had entered, and what the people werelike who had made these powerful creatures their slaves. Through the legs ofthe giants as they walked, Dorothy could see rows of houses on each side of thestreet and throngs of people standing on the sidewalks, but the people were ofordinary size and the only remarkable thing about them was the fact that theywere dreadfully lean and thin. Between their skin and their bones there seemedto be little or no flesh, and they were mostly stoop-shouldered and wearylooking, even to the little children.

More and more, Dorothy wondered how and why the great giants had ever submittedto become slaves of such skinny, languid masters, but there was no chance toquestion anyone until they arrived at a big palace located in the heart of thecity. Here the giants formed lines to the entrance and stood still while ourfriends rode into the courtyard of the palace. Then the gates closed behindthem, and before them was a skinny little man who bowed low and said in a sadvoice, “If you will be so obliging as to dismount, it will give me pleasure tolead you into the presence of the World’s Most Mighty Ruler, Vig the Czarover.”

“I don’t believe it!” said Dorothy indignantly.

“What don’t you believe?” asked the man.

“I don’t believe your Czarover can hold a candle to our Ozma.”

“He wouldn’t hold a candle under any circumstances, or to any living person,”replied the man very seriously, “for he has slaves to do such things and theMighty Vig is too dignified to do anything that others can do for him. He evenobliges a slave to sneeze for him, if ever he catches cold. However, if youdare to face our powerful ruler, follow me.”

“We dare anything,” said the Wizard, “so go ahead.”

Through several marble corridors having lofty ceilings they passed, findingeach corridor and doorway guarded by servants. But these servants of the palacewere of the people and not giants, and they were so thin that they almostresembled skeletons. Finally, they entered a great circular room with a high,domed ceiling, where the Czarover sat on a throne cut from a solid block ofwhite marble and decorated with purple silk hangings and gold tassels.

The ruler of these people was combing his eyebrows when our friends entered thethrone room and stood before him, but he put the comb in his pocket andexamined the strangers with evident curiosity. Then he said, “Dear me, what asurprise! You have really shocked me. For no outsider has ever before come toour City of Herku, and I cannot imagine why you have ventured to do so.”

“We are looking for Ozma, the Supreme Ruler of the Land of Oz,” replied theWizard.

“Do you see her anywhere around here?” asked the Czarover.

“Not yet, Your Majesty, but perhaps you may tell us where she is.”

“No, I have my hands full keeping track of my own people. I find them hard tomanage because they are so tremendously strong.”

“They don’t look very strong,” said Dorothy. “It seems as if a good wind wouldblow ’em way out of the city if it wasn’t for the wall.”

“Just so, just so,” admitted the Czarover. “They really look that way, don’tthey? But you must never trust to appearances, which have a way of fooling one.Perhaps you noticed that I prevented you from meeting any of my people. Iprotected you with my giants while you were on the way from the gates to mypalace so that not a Herku got near you.”

“Are your people so dangerous, then?” asked the Wizard.

“To strangers, yes. But only because they are so friendly. For if they shakehands with you, they are likely to break your arms or crush your fingers to ajelly.”

“Why?” asked Button-Bright.

“Because we are the strongest people in all the world.”

“Pshaw!” exclaimed the boy. “That’s bragging. You prob’ly don’t know how strongother people are. Why, once I knew a man in Philadelphi’ who could bend ironbars with just his hands!”

“But mercy me, it’s no trick to bend iron bars,” said His Majesty. “Tell me,could this man crush a block of stone with his bare hands?”

“No one could do that,” declared the boy.

“If I had a block of stone, I’d show you,” said the Czarover, looking aroundthe room. “Ah, here is my throne. The back is too high, anyhow, so I’ll justbreak off a piece of that.” He rose to his feet and tottered in an uncertainway around the throne. Then he took hold of the back and broke off a piece ofmarble over a foot thick. “This,” said he, coming back to his seat, “is verysolid marble and much harder than ordinary stone. Yet I can crumble it easilywith my fingers, a proof that I am very strong.”

Even as he spoke, he began breaking off chunks of marble and crumbling them asone would a bit of earth. The Wizard was so astonished that he took a piece inhis own hands and tested it, finding it very hard indeed.

Just then one of the giant servants entered and exclaimed, “Oh, Your Majesty,the cook has burned the soup! What shall we do?”

“How dare you interrupt me?” asked the Czarover, and grasping the immense giantby one of his legs, he raised him in the air and threw him headfirst out of anopen window. “Now, tell me,” he said, turning to Button-Bright, “could your manin Philadelphia crumble marble in his fingers?”

“I guess not,” said Button-Bright, much impressed by the skinny monarch’sstrength.

“What makes you so strong?” inquired Dorothy.

“It’s the zosozo,” he explained, “which is an invention of my own. I and all mypeople eat zosozo, and it gives us tremendous strength. Would you like to eatsome?”

“No thank you,” replied the girl. “I—I don’t want to get so thin.”

“Well, of course one can’t have strength and flesh at the same time,” said theCzarover. “Zosozo is pure energy, and it’s the only compound of its sort inexistence. I never allow our giants to have it, you know, or they would soonbecome our masters, since they are bigger that we; so I keep all the stufflocked up in my private laboratory. Once a year I feed a teaspoonful of it toeach of my people—men, women and children—so every one of them is nearly asstrong as I am. Wouldn’t YOU like a dose, sir?” he asked, turning to theWizard.

“Well,” said the Wizard, “if you would give me a little zosozo in a bottle, I’dlike to take it with me on my travels. It might come in handy on occasion.”

“To be sure. I’ll give you enough for six doses,” promised the Czarover.

“But don’t take more than a teaspoonful at a time. Once Ugu the Shoemaker tooktwo teaspoonsful, and it made him so strong that when he leaned against thecity wall, he pushed it over, and we had to build it up again.”

“Who is Ugu the Shoemaker?” askedButton-Bright curiously, for he now remembered that the bird and the rabbit hadclaimed Ugu the Shoemaker had enchanted the peach he had eaten.

“Why, Ugu is a great magician who used to live here. But he’s gone away now,”replied the Czarover.

“Where has he gone?” asked the Wizard quickly.

“I am told he lives in a wickerwork castle in the mountains to the west ofhere. You see, Ugu became such a powerful magician that he didn’t care to livein our city any longer for fear we would discover some of his secrets. So hewent to the mountains and built him a splendid wicker castle which is so strongthat even I and my people could not batter it down, and there he lives all byhimself.”

“This is good news,” declared the Wizard, “for I think this is just themagician we are searching for. But why is he called Ugu the Shoemaker?”

“Once he was a very common citizen here and made shoes for a living,” repliedthe monarch of Herku. “But he was descended from the greatest wizard andsorcerer who ever lived in this or in any other country, and one day Ugu theShoemaker discovered all the magical books and recipes of his famousgreat-grandfather, which had been hidden away in the attic of his house. So hebegan to study the papers and books and to practice magic, and in time hebecame so skillful that, as I said, he scorned our city and built a solitarycastle for himself.”

“Do you think,” asked Dorothy anxiously, “that Ugu the Shoemaker would bewicked enough to steal our Ozma of Oz?”

“And the Magic Picture?” asked Trot.

“And the Great Book of Records of Glinda the Good?” asked Betsy.

“And my own magic tools?” asked the Wizard.

“Well,” replied the Czarover, “I won’t say that Ugu is wicked, exactly, but heis very ambitious to become the most powerful magician in the world, and so Isuppose he would not be too proud to steal any magic things that belonged toanybody else—if he could manage to do so.”

“But how about Ozma? Why would he wish to steal HER?” questioned Dorothy.

“Don’t ask me, my dear. Ugu doesn’t tell me why he does things, I assure you.”

“Then we must go and ask him ourselves,” declared the little girl.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” advised the Czarover, looking first at thethree girls and then at the boy and the little Wizard and finally at thestuffed Patchwork Girl. “If Ugu has really stolen your Ozma, he will probablykeep her a prisoner, in spite of all your threats or entreaties. And with allhis magical knowledge he would be a dangerous person to attack. Therefore, ifyou are wise, you will go home again and find a new Ruler for the Emerald Cityand the Land of Oz. But perhaps it isn’t Ugu the Shoemaker who has stolen yourOzma.”

“The only way to settle that question,” replied the Wizard, “is to go to Ugu’scastle and see if Ozma is there. If she is, we will report the matter to thegreat Sorceress Glinda the Good, and I’m pretty sure she will find a way torescue our darling ruler from the Shoemaker.”

“Well, do as you please,” said the Czarover, “but if you are all transformedinto hummingbirds or caterpillars, don’t blame me for not warning you.”

They stayed the rest of that day in the City of Herku and were fed at the royaltable of the Czarover and given sleeping rooms in his palace. The strongmonarch treated them very nicely and gave the Wizard a little golden vial ofzosozo to use if ever he or any of his party wished to acquire great strength.

Even at the last, the Czarover tried to persuade them not to go near Ugu theShoemaker, but they were resolved on the venture, and the next morning bade thefriendly monarch a cordial goodbye and, mounting upon their animals, left theHerkus and the City of Herku and headed for the mountains that lay to the west.

CHAPTER 13
THE TRUTH POND

It seems a long time since we have heard anything of the Frogman and Cayke theCookie Cook, who had left the Yip Country in search of the diamond-studdeddishpan which had been mysteriously stolen the same night that Ozma haddisappeared from the Emerald City. But you must remember that while the Frogmanand the Cookie Cook were preparing to descend from their mountaintop, and evenwhile on their way to the farmhouse of Wiljon the Winkie, Dorothy and theWizard and their friends were encountering the adventures we have just related.

So it was that on the very morning when the travelers from the Emerald Citybade farewell to the Czarover of the City of Herku, Cayke and the Frogman awokein a grove in which they had passed the night sleeping on beds of leaves. Therewere plenty of farmhouses in the neighborhood, but no one seemed to welcome thepuffy, haughty Frogman or the little dried-up Cookie Cook, and so they sleptcomfortably enough underneath the trees of the grove. The Frogman wakened firston this morning, and after going to the tree where Cayke slept and finding herstill wrapped in slumber, he decided to take a little walk and seek somebreakfast. Coming to the edge of the grove, he observed half a mile away apretty yellow house that was surrounded by a yellow picket fence, so he walkedtoward this house and on entering the yard found a Winkie woman picking upsticks with which to build a fire to cook her morning meal.

“For goodness sake!” she exclaimed on seeing the Frogman. “What are you doingout of your frog-pond?”

“I am traveling in search of a jeweled gold dishpan, my good woman,” he repliedwith an air of great dignity.

“You won’t find it here, then,” said she. “Our dishpans are tin, and they’regood enough for anybody. So go back to your pond and leave me alone.” She spokerather crossly and with a lack of respect that greatly annoyed the Frogman.

“Allow me to tell you, madam,” said he, “that although I am a frog, I am theGreatest and Wisest Frog in all the world. I may add that I possess much morewisdom than any Winkie—man or woman—in this land. Wherever I go, people fall ontheir knees before me and render homage to the Great Frogman! No one else knowsso much as I; no one else is so grand, so magnificent!”

“If you know so much,” she retorted, “why don’t you know where your dishpan isinstead of chasing around the country after it?”

“Presently,” he answered, “I am going where it is, but just now I am travelingand have had no breakfast. Therefore I honor you by asking you for something toeat.”

“Oho! The Great Frogman is hungry as any tramp, is he? Then pick up thesesticks and help me to build the fire,” said the woman contemptuously.

“Me! The Great Frogman pick up sticks?” he exclaimed in horror. “In the YipCountry where I am more honored and powerful than any King could be, peopleweep with joy when I ask them to feed me.”

“Then that’s the place to go for your breakfast,” declared the woman.

“I fear you do not realize my importance,” urged the Frogman. “Exceeding wisdomrenders me superior to menial duties.”

“It’s a great wonder to me,” remarked the woman, carrying her sticks to thehouse, “that your wisdom doesn’t inform you that you’ll get no breakfast here.”And she went in and slammed the door behind her.

The Frogman felt he had been insulted, so he gave a loud croak of indignationand turned away. After going a short distance, he came upon a faint path whichled across a meadow in the direction of a grove of pretty trees, and thinkingthis circle of evergreens must surround a house where perhaps he would bekindly received, he decided to follow the path. And by and by he came to thetrees, which were set close together, and pushing aside some branches he foundno house inside the circle, but instead a very beautiful pond of clear water.

Now the Frogman, although he was so big and well educated and now aped the waysand customs of human beings, was still a frog. As he gazed at this solitary,deserted pond, his love for water returned to him with irresistible force. “IfI cannot get a breakfast, I may at least have a fine swim,” said he, andpushing his way between the trees, he reached the bank. There he took off hisfine clothing, laying his shiny purple hat and his gold-headed cane beside it.A moment later, he sprang with one leap into the water and dived to the verybottom of the pond.

The water was deliciously cool and grateful to his thick, rough skin, and theFrogman swam around the pond several times before he stopped to rest. Then hefloated upon the surface and examined the pond. The bottom and sides were alllined with glossy tiles of a light pink color; just one place in the bottomwhere the water bubbled up from a hidden spring had been left free. On thebanks, the green grass grew to the edge of the pink tiling. And now, as theFrogman examined the place, he found that on one side of the pool, just abovethe water line, had been set a golden plate on which some words were deeplyengraved. He swam toward this plate, and on reaching it read the followinginscription:

This is
THE TRUTH POND
Whoever bathes in this
water must always
afterward tell
THE TRUTH.

This statement startled the Frogman. It even worried him, so that he leapedupon the bank and hurriedly began to dress himself. “A great misfortune hasbefallen me,” he told himself, “for hereafter I cannot tell people I am wise,since it is not the truth. The truth is that my boasted wisdom is all a sham,assumed by me to deceive people and make them defer to me. In truth, no livingcreature can know much more than his fellows, for one may know one thing, andanother know another thing, so that wisdom is evenly scattered throughout theworld. But—ah me!—what a terrible fate will now be mine. Even Cayke the CookieCook will soon discover that my knowledge is no greater than her own, forhaving bathed in the enchanted water of the Truth Pond, I can no longer deceiveher or tell a lie.”

More humbled than he had been for many years, the Frogman went back to thegrove where he had left Cayke and found the woman now awake and washing herface in a tiny brook. “Where has Your Honor been?” she asked.

“To a farmhouse to ask for something to eat,” said he, “but the woman refusedme.”

“How dreadful!” she exclaimed. “But never mind, there are other houses wherethe people will be glad to feed the Wisest Creature in all the World.”

“Do you mean yourself?” he asked.

“No, I mean you.”

The Frogman felt strongly impelled to tell the truth, but struggled hardagainst it. His reason told him there was no use in letting Cayke know he wasnot wise, for then she would lose much respect for him, but each time he openedhis mouth to speak, he realized he was about to tell the truth and shut itagain as quickly as possible. He tried to talk about something else, but thewords necessary to undeceive the woman would force themselves to his lips inspite of all his struggles. Finally, knowing that he must either remain dumb orlet the truth prevail, he gave a low groan of despair and said, “Cayke, I amNOT the Wisest Creature in all the World; I am not wise at all.”

“Oh, you must be!” she protested. “You told me so yourself, only last evening.”

“Then last evening I failed to tell you the truth,” he admitted, looking veryshamefaced for a frog. “I am sorry I told you this lie, my good Cayke, but ifyou must know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I am notreally as wise as you are.”

The Cookie Cook was greatly shocked to hear this, for it shattered one of hermost pleasing illusions. She looked at the gorgeously dressed Frogman inamazement. “What has caused you to change your mind so suddenly?” she inquired.

“I have bathed in the Truth Pond,” he said, “and whoever bathes in that wateris ever afterward obliged to tell the truth.”

“You were foolish to do that,” declared the woman.

“It is often very embarrassing to tell the truth. I’m glad I didn’t bathe inthat dreadful water!”

The Frogman looked at his companion thoughtfully. “Cayke,” said he, “I want youto go to the Truth Pond and take a bath in its water. For if we are to traveltogether and encounter unknown adventures, it would not be fair that I alonemust always tell you the truth, while you could tell me whatever you pleased.If we both dip in the enchanted water, there will be no chance in the future ofour deceiving one another.”

“No,” she asserted, shaking her head positively, “I won’t do it, Your Honor.For if I told you the truth, I’m sure you wouldn’t like me. No Truth Pond forme. I’ll be just as I am, an honest woman who can say what she wants to withouthurting anyone’s feelings.”

With this decision the Frogman was forced to be content, although he was sorrythe Cookie Cook would not listen to his advice.

CHAPTER 14
THE UNHAPPY FERRYMAN

Leaving the grove where they had slept, the Frogman and the Cookie Cook turnedto the east to seek another house, and after a short walk came to one where thepeople received them very politely. The children stared rather hard at the big,pompous Frogman, but the woman of the house, when Cayke asked for something toeat, at once brought them food and said they were welcome to it. “Few people inneed of help pass this way,” she remarked, “for the Winkies are all prosperousand love to stay in their own homes. But perhaps you are not a Winkie,” sheadded.

“No,” said Cayke, “I am a Yip, and my home is on a high mountain at thesoutheast of your country.”

“And the Frogman, is he also a Yip?”

“I do not know what he is, other than a very remarkable and highly educatedcreature,” replied the Cookie Cook. “But he has lived many years among theYips, who have found him so wise and intelligent that they always go to him foradvice.”

“May I ask why you have left your home and where you are going?” said theWinkie woman.

Then Cayke told her of the diamond-studded gold dishpan and how it had beenmysteriously stolen from her house, after which she had discovered that shecould no longer cook good cookies. So she had resolved to search until shefound her dishpan again, because a Cookie cook who cannot cook good cookies isnot of much use. The Frogman, who had wanted to see more of the world, hadaccompanied her to assist in the search. When the woman had listened to thisstory, she asked, “Then you have no idea as yet who has stolen your dishpan?”

“I only know it must have been some mischievous fairy, or a magician, or somesuch powerful person, because none other could have climbed the steep mountainto the Yip Country. And who else could have carried away my beautiful magicdishpan without being seen?”

The woman thought about this during the time that Cayke and the Frogman atetheir breakfast. When they had finished, she said, “Where are you going next?”

“We have not decided,” answered the Cookie cook.

“Our plan,” explained the Frogman in his important way, “is to travel fromplace to place until we learn where the thief is located and then to force himto return the dishpan to its proper owner.”

“The plan is all right,” agreed the woman, “but it may take you a long timebefore you succeed, your method being sort of haphazard and indefinite.However, I advise you to travel toward the east.”

“Why?” asked the Frogman.

“Because if you went west, you would soon come to the desert, and also becausein this part of the Winkie Country no one steals, so your time here would bewasted. But toward the east, beyond the river, live many strange people whosehonesty I would not vouch for. Moreover, if you journey far enough east andcross the river for a second time, you will come to the Emerald City, wherethere is much magic and sorcery. The Emerald City is ruled by a dear littlegirl called Ozma, who also rules the Emperor of the Winkies and all the Land ofOz. So, as Ozma is a fairy, she may be able to tell you just who has taken yourprecious dishpan. Provided, of course, you do not find it before you reachher.”

“This seems to be to be excellent advice,” said the Frogman, and Cayke agreedwith him.

“The most sensible thing for you to do,” continued the woman, “would be toreturn to your home and use another dishpan, learn to cook cookies as otherpeople cook cookies, without the aid of magic. But if you cannot be happywithout the magic dishpan you have lost, you are likely to learn more about itin the Emerald City than at any other place in Oz.”

They thanked the good woman, and on leaving her house faced the east andcontinued in that direction all the way. Toward evening they came to the westbranch of the Winkie River and there, on the riverbank, found a ferryman wholived all alone in a little yellow house. This ferryman was a Winkie with avery small head and a very large body. He was sitting in his doorway as thetravelers approached him and did not even turn his head to look at them.

“Good evening,” said the Frogman.

The ferryman made no reply.

“We would like some supper and the privilege of sleeping in your house untilmorning,” continued the Frogman. “At daybreak, we would like some breakfast,and then we would like to have you row us across the river.”

The ferryman neither moved nor spoke. He sat in his doorway and looked straightahead. “I think he must be deaf and dumb,” Cayke whispered to her companion.Then she stood directly in front of the ferryman, and putting her mouth closeto his ear, she yelled as loudly as she could, “Good evening!”

The ferryman scowled.

“Why do you yell at me, woman?” he asked.

“Can you hear what I say?” asked in her ordinary tone of voice.

“Of course,” replied the man.

“Then why didn’t you answer the Frogman?”

“Because,” said the ferryman, “I don’t understand the frog language.”

“He speaks the same words that I do and in the same way,” declared Cayke.

“Perhaps,” replied the ferryman, “but to me his voice sounded like a frog’scroak. I know that in the Land of Oz animals can speak our language, and so canthe birds and bugs and fishes; but in MY ears, they sound merely like growlsand chirps and croaks.”

“Why is that?” asked the Cookie Cook in surprise.

“Once, many years ago, I cut the tail off a fox which had taunted me, and Istole some birds’ eggs from a nest to make an omelet with, and also I pulled afish from the river and left it lying on the bank to gasp for lack of wateruntil it died. I don’t know why I did those wicked things, but I did them. Sothe Emperor of the Winkies—who is the Tin Woodman and has a very tender tinheart—punished me by denying me any communication with beasts, birds or fishes.I cannot understand them when they speak to me, although I know that otherpeople can do so, nor can the creatures understand a word I say to them. Everytime I meet one of them, I am reminded of my former cruelty, and it makes mevery unhappy.”

“Really,” said Cayke, “I’m sorry for you, although the Tin Woodman is not toblame for punishing you.”

“What is he mumbling about?” asked the Frogman.

“He is talking to me, but you don’t understand him,” she replied. And then shetold him of the ferryman’s punishment and afterward explained to the ferrymanthat they wanted to stay all night with him and be fed.

He gave them some fruit and bread, which was the only sort of food he had, andhe allowed Cayke to sleep in a room of his cottage. But the Frogman he refusedto admit to his house, saying that the frog’s presence made him miserable andunhappy. At no time would he look directly at the Frogman, or even toward him,fearing he would shed tears if he did so; so the big frog slept on theriverbank where he could hear little frogs croaking in the river all the nightthrough. But that did not keep him awake; it merely soothed him to slumber, forhe realized how much superior he was to them.

Just as the sun was rising on a new day, the ferryman rowed the two travelersacross the river—keeping his back to the Frogman all the way—and then Caykethanked him and bade him goodbye and the ferryman rowed home again.

On this side of the river, there were no paths at all, so it was evident theyhad reached a part of the country little frequented by travelers. There was amarsh at the south of them, sandhills at the north, and a growth of scrubbyunderbrush leading toward a forest at the east. So the east was really theleast difficult way to go, and that direction was the one they had determinedto follow.

Now the Frogman, although he wore green patent-leather shoes with ruby buttons,had very large and flat feet, and when he tramped through the scrub, his weightcrushed down the underbrush and made a path for Cayke to follow him. Thereforethey soon reached the forest, where the tall trees were set far apart but wereso leafy that they shaded all the spaces between them with their branches.“There are no bushes here,” said Cayke, much pleased, “so we can now travelfaster and with more comfort.”

CHAPTER 15
THE BIG LAVENDER BEAR

It was a pleasant place to wander, and the two travelers were proceeding at abrisk pace when suddenly a voice shouted, “Halt!”

They looked around in surprise, seeing at first no one at all. Then from behinda tree there stepped a brown, fuzzy bear whose head came about as high asCayke’s waist—and Cayke was a small woman. The bear was chubby as well asfuzzy; his body was even puffy, while his legs and arms seemed jointed at theknees and elbows and fastened to his body by pins or rivets. His ears wereround in shape and stuck out in a comical way, while his round, black eyes werebright and sparkling as beads. Over his shoulder the little brown bear bore agun with a tin barrel. The barrel had a cork in the end of it, and a string wasattached to the cork and to the handle of the gun. Both the Frogman and Caykegazed hard at this curious bear, standing silent for some time. But finally theFrogman recovered from his surprise and remarked, “It seems to me that you arestuffed with sawdust and ought not to be alive.”

“That’s all you know about it,” answered the little Brown Bear in a squeakyvoice. “I am stuffed with a very good quality of curled hair, and my skin isthe best plush that was ever made. As for my being alive, that is my own affairand cannot concern you at all, except that it gives me the privilege to say youare my prisoners.”

“Prisoners! Why do you speak such nonsense?” the Frogman angrily. “Do you thinkwe are afraid of a toy bear with a toy gun?”

“You ought to be,” was the confident reply, “for I am merely the sentryguarding the way to Bear Center, which is a city containing hundreds of myrace, who are ruled by a very powerful sorcerer known as the Lavender Bear. Heought to be a purple color, you know, seeing he is a King, but he’s only lightlavender, which is, of course, second cousin to royal purple. So unless youcome with me peaceably as my prisoners, I shall fire my gun and bring a hundredbears of all sizes and colors to capture you.”

“Why do you wish to capture us?” inquired the Frogman, who had listened to hisspeech with much astonishment.

“I don’t wish to, as a matter of fact,” replied the little Brown Bear, “but itis my duty to, because you are now trespassing on the domain of His Majesty,the King of Bear Center. Also, I will admit that things are rather quiet in ourcity just now, and the excitement of your capture, followed by your trial andexecution, should afford us much entertainment.”

“We defy you!” said the Frogman.

“Oh no, don’t do that,” pleaded Cayke, speaking to her companion. “He says hisKing is a sorcerer, so perhaps it is he or one of his bears who ventured tosteal my jeweled dishpan. Let us go to the City of the Bears and discover if mydishpan is there.”

“I must now register one more charge against you,” remarked the little BrownBear with evident satisfaction. “You have just accused us of stealing, and thatis such a dreadful thing to say that I am quite sure our noble King willcommand you to be executed.”

“But how could you execute us?” inquired the Cookie Cook.

“I’ve no idea. But our King is a wonderful inventor, and there is no doubt hecan find a proper way to destroy you. So tell me, are you going to struggle, orwill you go peaceably to meet your doom?”

It was all so ridiculous that Cayke laughed aloud, and even the Frogman’s widemouth curled in a smile. Neither was a bit afraid to go to the Bear City, andit seemed to both that there was a possibility they might discover the missingdishpan. So the Frogman said, “Lead the way, little Bear, and we will followwithout a struggle.”

“That’s very sensible of you, very sensible indeed,” declared the Brown Bear.“So for-ward, MARCH!” And with the command he turned around and began to waddlealong a path that led between the trees.

Cayke and the Frogman, as they followed their conductor, could scarce forbearlaughing at his stiff, awkward manner of walking, and although he moved hisstuffy legs fast, his steps were so short that they had to go slowly in ordernot to run into him. But after a time they reached a large, circular space inthe center of the forest, which was clear of any stumps or underbrush. Theground was covered by a soft, gray moss, pleasant to tread upon. All the treessurrounding this space seemed to be hollow and had round holes in their trunks,set a little way above the ground, but otherwise there was nothing unusualabout the place and nothing, in the opinion of the prisoners, to indicate asettlement. But the little Brown Bear said in a proud and impressive voice(although it still squeaked), “This is the wonderful city known to fame as BearCenter!”

“But there are no houses, there are no bears living here at all!” exclaimedCayke.

“Oh indeed!” retorted their captor, and raising his gun he pulled the trigger.The cork flew out of the tin barrel with a loud “pop!” and at once from everyhole in every tree within view of the clearing appeared the head of a bear.They were of many colors and of many sizes, but all were made in the samemanner as the bear who had met and captured them.

At first a chorus of growls arose, and then a sharp voice cried, “What hashappened, Corporal Waddle?”

“Captives, Your Majesty!” answered the Brown Bear. “Intruders upon our domainand slanderers of our good name.”

“Ah, that’s important,” answered the voice.

Then from out the hollow trees tumbled a whole regiment of stuffed bears, somecarrying tin swords, some popguns and others long spears with gay ribbons tiedto the handles. There were hundreds of them, altogether, and they quietlyformed a circle around the Frogman and the Cookie Cook, but kept at a distanceand left a large space for the prisoners to stand in. Presently, this circleparted, and into the center of it stalked a huge toy bear of a lovely lavendercolor. He walked upon his hind legs, as did all the others, and on his head hewore a tin crown set with diamonds and amethysts, while in one paw he carried ashort wand of some glittering metal that resembled silver but wasn’t.

“His Majesty the King!” Corporal Waddle, and all the bears bowed low. Somebowed so low that they lost their balance and toppled over, but they soonscrambled up again, and the Lavender King squatted on his haunches before theprisoners and gazed at them steadily with his bright, pink eyes.

CHAPTER 16
THE LITTLE PINK BEAR

“One Person and one Freak,” said the big Lavender Bear when he had carefullyexamined the strangers.

“I am sorry to hear you call poor Cayke the Cookie Cook a Freak,” remonstratedthe Frogman.

“She is the Person,” asserted the King. “Unless I am mistaken, it is you whoare the Freak.”

The Frogman was silent, for he could not truthfully deny it.

“Why have you dared intrude in my forest?” demanded the Bear King.

“We didn’t know it was your forest,” said Cayke, “and we are on our way to thefar east, where the Emerald City is.”

“Ah, it’s a long way from here to the Emerald City,” remarked the King. “It isso far away, indeed, that no bear among us has even been there. But what errandrequires you to travel such a distance?”

“Someone has stolen my diamond-studded gold dishpan,” explained Cayke, “and asI cannot be happy without it, I have decided to search the world over until Ifind it again. The Frogman, who is very learned and wonderfully wise, has comewith me to give me his assistance. Isn’t it kind of him?”

The King looked at the Frogman.

“What makes you so wonderfully wise?” he asked.

“I’m not,” was the candid reply. “The Cookie Cook and some others in the YipCountry think because I am a big frog and talk and act like a man that I mustbe very wise. I have learned more than a frog usually knows, it is true, but Iam not yet so wise as I hope to become at some future time.”

The King nodded, and when he did so, something squeaked in his chest.

“Did Your Majesty speak?” asked Cayke.

“Not just then,” answered the Lavender Bear, seeming to be somewhatembarrassed. “I am so built, you must know, that when anything pushes againstmy chest, as my chin accidentally did just then, I make that silly noise. Inthis city it isn’t considered good manners to notice. But I like your Frogman.He is honest and truthful, which is more than can be said of many others. Asfor your late lamented dishpan, I’ll show it to you.”

With this he waved three times the metal wand which he held in his paw, andinstantly there appeared upon the ground midway between the King and Cayke abig, round pan made of beaten gold. Around the top edge was a row of smalldiamonds; around the center of the pan was another row of larger diamonds; andat the bottom was a row of exceedingly large and brilliant diamonds. In fact,they all sparkled magnificently, and the pan was so big and broad that it tooka lot of diamonds to go around it three times.

Cayke stared so hard that her eyes seemed about to pop out of her head.“O-o-o-h!” she exclaimed, drawing a deep breath of delight.

“Is this your dishpan?” inquired the King.

“It is, it is!” cried the Cookie Cook, and rushing forward, she fell on herknees and threw her arms around the precious pan. But her arms came togetherwithout meeting any resistance at all. Cayke tried to seize the edge, but foundnothing to grasp. The pan was surely there, she thought, for she could see itplainly; but it was not solid; she could not feel it at all. With a moan ofastonishment and despair, she raised her head to look at the Bear King, who waswatching her actions curiously. Then she turned to the pan again, only to findit had completely disappeared.

“Poor creature!” murmured the King pityingly. “You must have thought, for themoment, that you had actually recovered your dishpan. But what you saw wasmerely the image of it, conjured up by means of my magic. It is a prettydishpan, indeed, though rather big and awkward to handle. I hope you will someday find it.”

Cayke was grievously disappointed. She began to cry, wiping her eyes on herapron. The King turned to the throng of toy bears surrounding him and asked,“Has any of you ever seen this golden dishpan before?”

“No,” they answered in a chorus.

The King seemed to reflect. Presently he inquired, “Where is the Little PinkBear?”

“At home, Your Majesty,” was the reply.

“Fetch him here,” commanded the King.

Several of the bears waddled over to one of the trees and pulled from itshollow a tiny pink bear, smaller than any of the others. A big, white bearcarried the pink one in his arms and set it down beside the King, arranging thejoints of its legs so that it would stand upright.

This Pink Bear seemed lifeless until the King turned a crank which protrudedfrom its side, when the little creature turned its head stiffly from side toside and said in a small, shrill voice, “Hurrah for the King of Bear Center!”

“Very good,” said the big Lavender Bear. “He seems to be working very welltoday. Tell me, my Pink Pinkerton, what has become of this lady’s jeweleddishpan?”

“U-u-u,” said the Pink Bear, and then stopped short.

The King turned the crank again.

“U-g-u the Shoemaker has it,” said the Pink Bear.

“Who is Ugu the Shoemaker?” demanded the King, again turning the crank.

“A magician who lives on a mountain in a wickerwork castle,” was the reply.

“Where is the mountain?” was the next question.

“Nineteen miles and three furlongs from Bear Center to the northeast.”

“And is the dishpan still at the castle of Ugu the Shoemaker?” asked the King.

“It is.”

The King turned to Cayke.

“You may rely on this information,” said he. “The Pink Bear can tell usanything we wish to know, and his words are always words of truth.”

“Is he alive?” asked the Frogman, much interested in the Pink Bear.

“Something animates him when you turn his crank,” replied the King. “I do notknow if it is life or what it is or how it happens that the Little Pink Bearcan answer correctly every question put to him. We discovered his talent a longtime ago, and whenever we wish to know anything—which is not very often—we askthe Pink Bear. There is no doubt whatever, madam, that Ugu the Magician hasyour dishpan, and if you dare to go to him, you may be able to recover it. Butof that I am not certain.”

“Can’t the Pink Bear tell?” asked Cayke anxiously.

“No, for that is in the future. He can tell anything that HAS happened, butnothing that is going to happen. Don’t ask me why, for I don’t know.”

“Well,” said the Cookie Cook after a little thought, “I mean to go to thismagician, anyhow, and tell him I want my dishpan. I wish I knew what Ugu theShoemaker is like.”

“Then I’ll show him to you,” promised the King. “But do not be frightened. Itwon’t be Ugu, remember, but only his image.” With this, he waved his metalwand, and in the circle suddenly appeared a thin little man, very old andskinny, who was seated on a wicker stool before a wicker table. On the tablelay a Great Book with gold clasps. The Book was open, and the man was readingin it. He wore great spectacles which were fastened before his eyes by means ofa ribbon that passed around his head and was tied in a bow at the neck. Hishair was very thin and white; his skin, which clung fast to his bones, wasbrown and seared with furrows; he had a big, fat nose and little eyes set closetogether.

On no account was Ugu the Shoemaker a pleasant person to gaze at. As his imageappeared before them, all were silent and intent until Corporal Waddle, theBrown Bear, became nervous and pulled the trigger of his gun. Instantly, thecork flew out of the tin barrel with a loud “pop!” that made them all jump. Andat this sound, the image of the magician vanished.

“So THAT’S the thief, is it?” said Cayke in an angry voice. “I should thinkhe’d be ashamed of himself for stealing a poor woman’s diamond dishpan! But Imean to face him in his wicker castle and force him to return my property.”

“To me,” said the Bear King reflectively, “he looked like a dangerous person. Ihope he won’t be so unkind as to argue the matter with you.”

The Frogman was much disturbed by the vision of Ugu the Shoemaker, and Cayke’sdetermination to go to the magician filled her companion with misgivings. Buthe would not break his pledged word to assist the Cookie Cook, and afterbreathing a deep sigh of resignation, he asked the King, “Will Your Majestylend us this Pink Bear who answers questions that we may take him with us onour journey? He would be very useful to us, and we will promise to bring himsafely back to you.”

The King did not reply at once. He seemed to be thinking.

“PLEASE let us take the Pink Bear,” begged Cayke. “I’m sure he would be a greathelp to us.”

“The Pink Bear,” said the King, “is the best bit of magic I possess, and thereis not another like him in the world. I do not care to let him out of my sight,nor do I wish to disappoint you; so I believe I will make the journey in yourcompany and carry my Pink Bear with me. He can walk when you wind the otherside of him, but so slowly and awkwardly that he would delay you. But if I goalong, I can carry him in my arms, so I will join your party. Whenever you areready to start, let me know.”

“But Your Majesty!” exclaimed Corporal Waddle in protest, “I hope you do notintend to let these prisoners escape without punishment.”

“Of what crime do you accuse them?” inquired the King.

“Why, they trespassed on your domain, for one thing,” said the Brown Bear.

“We didn’t know it was private property, Your Majesty,” said the Cookie Cook.“And they asked if any of us had stolen the dishpan!” continued Corporal Waddleindignantly. “That is the same thing as calling us thieves and robbers andbandits and brigands, is it not?”

“Every person has the right to ask questions,” said the Frogman.

“But the Corporal is quite correct,” declared the Lavender Bear. “I condemn youboth to death, the execution to take place ten years from this hour.”

“But we belong in the Land of Oz, where no one ever dies,” Cayke reminded him.

“Very true,” said the King. “I condemn you to death merely as a matter of form.It sounds quite terrible, and in ten years we shall have forgotten all aboutit. Are you ready to start for the wicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker?”

“Quite ready, Your Majesty.”

“But who will rule in your place while you are gone?” asked a big Yellow Bear.

“I myself will rule while I am gone,” was the reply.

“A King isn’t required to stay at home forever, and if he takes a notion totravel, whose business is it but his own? All I ask is that you bears behaveyourselves while I am away. If any of you is naughty, I’ll send him to somegirl or boy in America to play with.”

This dreadful threat made all the toy bears look solemn. They assured the Kingin a chorus of growls that they would be good. Then the big Lavender Bearpicked up the little Pink Bear, and after tucking it carefully under one arm,he said, “Goodbye till I come back!” and waddled along the path that ledthrough the forest. The Frogman and Cayke the Cookie Cook also said goodbye tothe bears and then followed after the King, much to the regret of the littleBrown Bear, who pulled the trigger of his gun and popped the cork as a partingsalute.

CHAPTER 17
THE MEETING

While the Frogman and his party were advancing from the west, Dorothy and herparty were advancing from the east, and so it happened that on the followingnight they all camped at a little hill that was only a few miles from thewicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker. But the two parties did not see one anotherthat night, for one camped on one side of the hill while the other camped onthe opposite side. But the next morning, the Frogman thought he would climb thehill and see what was on top of it, and at the same time Scraps, the PatchworkGirl, also decided to climb the hill to find if the wicker castle was visiblefrom its top. So she stuck her head over an edge just as the Frogman’s headappeared over another edge, and both, being surprised, kept still while theytook a good look at one another.

Scraps recovered from her astonishment first, and bounding upward, she turned asomersault and landed sitting down and facing the big Frogman, who slowlyadvanced and sat opposite her. “Well met, Stranger!” cried the Patchwork Girlwith a whoop of laughter. “You are quite the funniest individual I have seen inall my travels.”

“Do you suppose I can be any funnier than you?” asked the Frogman, gazing ather in wonder.

“I’m not funny to myself, you know,” returned Scraps. “I wish I were. Andperhaps you are so used to your own absurd shape that you do not laugh wheneveryou see your reflection in a pool or in a mirror.”

“No,” said the Frogman gravely, “I do not. I used to be proud of my great sizeand vain of my culture and education, but since I bathed in the Truth Pond, Isometimes think it is not right that I should be different from all otherfrogs.”

“Right or wrong,” said the Patchwork Girl, “to be different is to bedistinguished. Now in my case, I’m just like all other Patchwork Girls becauseI’m the only one there is. But tell me, where did you come from?”

“The Yip Country,” said he.

“Is that in the Land of Oz?”

“Of course,” replied the Frogman.

“And do you know that your Ruler, Ozma of Oz, has been stolen?”

“I was not aware that I had a Ruler, so of course I couldn’t know that she wasstolen.”

“Well, you have. All the people of Oz,” explained Scraps, “are ruled by Ozma,whether they know it or not. And she has been stolen. Aren’t you angry? Aren’tyou indignant? Your Ruler, whom you didn’t know you had, has positively beenstolen!”

“That is queer,” remarked the Frogman thoughtfully. “Stealing is a thingpractically unknown in Oz, yet this Ozma has been taken, and a friend of minehas also had her dishpan stolen. With her I have traveled all the way from theYip Country in order to recover it.”

“I don’t see any connection between a Royal Ruler of Oz and a dishpan!”declared Scraps.

“They’ve both been stolen, haven’t they?”

“True. But why can’t your friend wash her dishes in another dishpan?” askedScraps.

“Why can’t you use another Royal Ruler? I suppose you prefer the one who islost, and my friend wants her own dishpan, which is made of gold and studdedwith diamonds and has magic powers.”

“Magic, eh?” exclaimed Scraps. “THERE is a link that connects the two steals,anyhow, for it seems that all the magic in the Land of Oz was stolen at thesame time, whether it was in the Emerald City of in Glinda’s castle or in theYip Country. Seems mighty strange and mysterious, doesn’t it?”

“It used to seem that way to me,” admitted the Frogman, “but we have nowdiscovered who took our dishpan. It was Ugu the Shoemaker.”

“Ugu? Good gracious! That’s the same magician we think has stolen Ozma. We arenow on our way to the castle of this Shoemaker.”

“So are we,” said the Frogman.

“Then follow me, quick! And let me introduce you to Dorothy and the other girlsand to the Wizard of Oz and all the rest of us.”

She sprang up and seized his coatsleeve, dragging him off the hilltop and downthe other side from that whence he had come. And at the foot of the hill, theFrogman was astonished to find the three girls and the Wizard andButton-Bright, who were surrounded by a wooden Sawhorse, a lean Mule, a squareWoozy, and a Cowardly Lion. A little black dog ran up and smelled at theFrogman, but couldn’t growl at him.

“I’ve discovered another party that has been robbed,” shouted Scraps as shejoined them. “This is their leader, and they’re all going to Ugu’s castle tofight the wicked Shoemaker!”

They regarded the Frogman with much curiosity and interest, and finding alleyes fixed upon him, the newcomer arranged his necktie and smoothed hisbeautiful vest and swung his gold-headed cane like a regular dandy. The bigspectacles over his eyes quite altered his froglike countenance and gave him alearned and impressive look. Used as she was to seeing strange creatures in theLand of Oz, Dorothy was amazed at discovering the Frogman. So were all hercompanions. Toto wanted to growl at him, but couldn’t, and he didn’t dare bark.The Sawhorse snorted rather contemptuously, but the Lion whispered to thewooden steed, “Bear with this strange creature, my friend, and remember he isno more extraordinary than you are. Indeed, it is more natural for a frog to bebig than for a Sawhorse to be alive.”

On being questioned, the Frogman told them the whole story of the loss ofCayke’s highly prized dishpan and their adventures in search of it. When hecame to tell of the Lavender Bear King and of the Little Pink Bear who couldtell anything you wanted to know, his hearers became eager to see suchinteresting animals.

“It will be best,” said the Wizard, “to unite our two parties and share ourfortunes together, for we are all bound on the same errand, and as one band wemay more easily defy this shoemaker magician than if separate. Let us beallies.”

“I will ask my friends about that,” replied the Frogman, and he climbed overthe hill to find Cayke and the toy bears. The Patchwork Girl accompanied him,and when they came upon the Cookie Cook and the Lavender Bear and the PinkBear, it was hard to tell which of the lot was the most surprised.

“Mercy me!” cried Cayke, addressing the Patchwork Girl. “However did you comealive?”

Scraps stared at the bears.

“Mercy me!” she echoed, “You are stuffed, as I am, with cotton, and you appearto be living. That makes me feel ashamed, for I have prided myself on being theonly live cotton-stuffed person in Oz.”

“Perhaps you are,” returned the Lavender Bear, “for I am stuffed withextra-quality curled hair, and so is the Little Pink Bear.”

“You have relieved my mind of a great anxiety,” declared the Patchwork Girl,now speaking more cheerfully. “The Scarecrow is stuffed with straw and you withhair, so I am still the Original and Only Cotton-Stuffed!”

“I hope I am too polite to criticize cotton as compared with curled hair,” saidthe King, “especially as you seem satisfied with it.”

Then the Frogman told of his interview with the party from the Emerald City andadded that the Wizard of Oz had invited the bears and Cayke and himself totravel in company with them to the castle of Ugu the Shoemaker. Cayke was muchpleased, but the Bear King looked solemn. He set the Little Pink Bear on hislap and turned the crank in its side and asked, “Is it safe for us to associatewith those people from the Emerald City?”

And the Pink Bear at once replied,

“Safe for you and safe for me;
Perhaps no others safe will be.”

“That ‘perhaps’ need not worry us,” said the King, “so let us join the othersand offer them our protection.”

Even the Lavender Bear was astonished, however, when on climbing over the hillhe found on the other side the group of queer animals and the people from theEmerald City. The bears and Cayke were received very cordially, althoughButton-Bright was cross when they wouldn’t let him play with the Little PinkBear. The three girls greatly admired the toy bears, and especially the pinkone, which they longed to hold.

“You see,” explained the Lavender King in denying them this privilege, “he’s avery valuable bear, because his magic is a correct guide on all occasions, andespecially if one is in difficulties. It was the Pink Bear who told us that Uguthe Shoemaker had stolen the Cookie Cook’s dishpan.”

“And the King’s magic is just as wonderful,” added Cayke, “because it showed usthe Magician himself.”

“What did he look like?” inquired Dorothy.

“He was dreadful!”

“He was sitting at a table and examining an immense Book which had three goldenclasps,” remarked the King.

“Why, that must have been Glinda’s Great Book of Records!” exclaimed Dorothy.“If it is, it proves that Ugu the Shoemaker stole Ozma, and with her all themagic in the Emerald City.”

“And my dishpan,” said Cayke.

And the Wizard added, “It also proves that he is following our adventures inthe Book of Records, and therefore knows that we are seeking him and that weare determined to find him and reach Ozma at all hazards.”

“If we can,” added the Woozy, but everybody frowned at him.

The Wizard’s statement was so true that the faces around him were very seriousuntil the Patchwork Girl broke into a peal of laughter.

“Wouldn’t it be a rich joke if he made prisoners of us, too?” she said.

“No one but a crazy Patchwork Girl would consider that a joke,” grumbledButton-Bright.

And then the Lavender Bear King asked, “Would you like to see this magicalshoemaker?”

“Wouldn’t he know it?” Dorothy inquired.

“No, I think not.”

Then the King waved his metal wand and before them appeared a room in thewicker castle of Ugu. On the wall of the room hung Ozma’s Magic Picture, andseated before it was the Magician. They could see the Picture as well as hecould, because it faced them, and in the Picture was the hillside where theywere now sitting, all their forms being reproduced in miniature. And curiouslyenough, within the scene of the Picture was the scene they were now beholding,so they knew that the Magician was at this moment watching them in the Picture,and also that he saw himself and the room he was in become visible to thepeople on the hillside. Therefore he knew very well that they were watching himwhile he was watching them.

In proof of this, Ugu sprang from his seat and turned a scowling face in theirdirection; but now he could not see the travelers who were seeking him,although they could still see him. His actions were so distinct, indeed, thatit seemed he was actually before them. “It is only a ghost,” said the BearKing. “It isn’t real at all except that it shows us Ugu just as he looks andtells us truly just what he is doing.”

“I don’t see anything of my lost growl, though,” said Toto as if to himself.

Then the vision faded away, and they could see nothing but the grass and treesand bushes around them.

CHAPTER 18
THE CONFERENCE

“Now then,” said the Wizard, “let us talk this matter over and decide what todo when we get to Ugu’s wicker castle. There can be no doubt that the Shoemakeris a powerful Magician, and his powers have been increased a hundredfold sincehe secured the Great Book of Records, the Magic Picture, all of Glinda’srecipes for sorcery, and my own black bag, which was full of tools of wizardry.The man who could rob us of those things and the man with all their powers athis command is one who may prove somewhat difficult to conquer, therefore weshould plan our actions well before we venture too near to his castle.”

“I didn’t see Ozma in the Magic Picture,” said Trot. “What do you suppose Uguhas done with her?”

“Couldn’t the Little Pink Bear tell us what he did with Ozma?” askedButton-Bright.

“To be sure,” replied the Lavender King. “I’ll ask him.” So he turned the crankin the Little Pink Bear’s side and inquired, “Did Ugu the Shoemaker steal Ozmaof Oz?”

“Yes,” answered the Little Pink Bear.

“Then what did he do with her?” asked the King.

“Shut her up in a dark place,” answered the Little Pink Bear.

“Oh, that must be a dungeon cell!” cried Dorothy, horrified. “How dreadful!”

“Well, we must get her out of it,” said the Wizard. “That is what we came for,and of course we must rescue Ozma. But how?”

Each one looked at some other one for an answer, and all shook their heads in agrave and dismal manner. All but Scraps, who danced around them gleefully.“You’re afraid,” said the Patchwork Girl, “because so many things can hurt yourmeat bodies. Why don’t you give it up and go home? How can you fight a greatmagician when you have nothing to fight with?”

Dorothy looked at her reflectively.

“Scraps,” said she, “you know that Ugu couldn’t hurt you a bit, whatever hedid, nor could he hurt ME, ’cause I wear the Gnome King’s Magic Belt. S’posejust we two go on together and leave the others here to wait for us.”

“No, no!” said the Wizard positively. “That won’t do at all. Ozma is morepowerful than either of you, yet she could not defeat the wicked Ugu, who hasshut her up in a dungeon. We must go to the Shoemaker in one mighty band, foronly in union is there strength.”

“That is excellent advice,” said the Lavender Bear approvingly.

“But what can we do when we get to Ugu?” inquired the Cookie Cook anxiously.

“Do not expect a prompt answer to that important question,” replied the Wizard,“for we must first plan our line of conduct. Ugu knows, of course, that we areafter him, for he has seen our approach in the Magic Picture, and he has readof all we have done up to the present moment in the Great Book of Records.Therefore we cannot expect to take him by surprise.”

“Don’t you suppose Ugu would listen to reason?” asked Betsy. “If we explainedto him how wicked he has been, don’t you think he’d let poor Ozma go?”

“And give me back my dishpan?” added the Cookie Cook eagerly.

“Yes, yes, won’t he say he’s sorry and get on his knees and beg our pardon?”cried Scraps, turning a flip-flop to show her scorn of the suggestion. “WhenUgu the Shoemaker does that, please knock at the front door and let me know.”

The Wizard sighed and rubbed his bald head with a puzzled air. “I’m quite sureUgu will not be polite to us,” said he, “so we must conquer this cruel magicianby force, much as we dislike to be rude to anyone. But none of you has yetsuggested a way to do that. Couldn’t the Little Pink Bear tell us how?” heasked, turning to the Bear King.

“No, for that is something that is GOING to happen,” replied the Lavender Bear.“He can only tell us what already HAS happened.”

Again, they were grave and thoughtful. But after a time, Betsy said in ahesitating voice, “Hank is a great fighter. Perhaps HE could conquer themagician.”

The Mule turned his head to look reproachfully at his old friend, the younggirl. “Who can fight against magic?” he asked.

“The Cowardly Lion could,” said Dorothy.

The Lion, who was lying with his front legs spread out, his chin on his paws,raised his shaggy head. “I can fight when I’m not afraid,” said he calmly, “butthe mere mention of a fight sets me to trembling.”

“Ugu’s magic couldn’t hurt the Sawhorse,” suggested tiny Trot.

“And the Sawhorse couldn’t hurt the Magician,” declared that wooden animal.

“For my part,” said Toto, “I am helpless, having lost my growl.”

“Then,” said Cayke the Cookie Cook, “we must depend upon the Frogman. Hismarvelous wisdom will surely inform him how to conquer the wicked Magician andrestore to me my dishpan.”

All eyes were now turned questioningly upon the Frogman. Finding himself thecenter of observation, he swung his gold-headed cane, adjusted his bigspectacles, and after swelling out his chest, sighed and said in a modest toneof voice:

“Respect for truth obliges me to confess that Cayke is mistaken in regard to mysuperior wisdom. I am not very wise. Neither have I had any practicalexperience in conquering magicians. But let us consider this case. What is Ugu,and what is a magician? Ugu is a renegade shoemaker, and a magician is anordinary man who, having learned how to do magical tricks, considers himselfabove his fellows. In this case, the Shoemaker has been naughty enough to steala lot of magical tools and things that did not belong to him, and he is morewicked to steal than to be a magician. Yet with all the arts at his command,Ugu is still a man, and surely there are ways in which a man may be conquered.How, do you say, how? Allow me to state that I don’t know. In my judgment, wecannot decide how best to act until we get to Ugu’s castle. So let us go to itand take a look at it. After that, we may discover an idea that will guide usto victory.”

“That may not be a wise speech, but it sounds good,” said Dorothy approvingly.“Ugu the Shoemaker is not only a common man, but he’s a wicked man and a cruelman and deserves to be conquered. We mustn’t have any mercy on him till Ozma isset free. So let’s go to his castle as the Frogman says and see what the placelooks like.”

No one offered any objection to this plan, and so it was adopted. They brokecamp and were about to start on the journey to Ugu’s castle when theydiscovered that Button-Bright was lost again. The girls and the Wizard shoutedhis name, and the Lion roared and the Donkey brayed and the Frogman croaked andthe Big Lavender Bear growled (to the envy of Toto, who couldn’t growl butbarked his loudest), yet none of them could make Button-Bright hear. So aftervainly searching for the boy a full hour, they formed a procession andproceeded in the direction of the wicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker.

“Button-Bright’s always getting lost,” said Dorothy. “And if he wasn’t alwaysgetting found again, I’d prob’ly worry. He may have gone ahead of us, and hemay have gone back, but wherever he is, we’ll find him sometime and somewhere,I’m almost sure.”

CHAPTER 19
UGU THE SHOEMAKER

A curious thing about Ugu the Shoemaker was that he didn’t suspect in the leastthat he was wicked. He wanted to be powerful and great, and he hoped to makehimself master of all the Land of Oz that he might compel everyone in thatfairy country to obey him, His ambition blinded him to the rights of others,and he imagined anyone else would act just as he did if anyone else happened tobe as clever as himself.

When he inhabited his little shoemaking shop in the City of Herku, he had beendiscontented, for a shoemaker is not looked upon with high respect, and Uguknew that his ancestors had been famous magicians for many centuries past andtherefore his family was above the ordinary. Even his father practiced magicwhen Ugu was a boy, but his father had wandered away from Herku and had nevercome back again. So when Ugu grew up, he was forced to make shoes for a living,knowing nothing of the magic of his forefathers. But one day, in searchingthrough the attic of his house, he discovered all the books of magical recipesand many magical instruments which had formerly been in use in his family. Fromthat day, he stopped making shoes and began to study magic. Finally, he aspiredto become the greatest magician in Oz, and for days and weeks and months hethought on a plan to render all the other sorcerers and wizards, as well asthose with fairy powers, helpless to oppose him.

From the books of his ancestors, he learned the following facts:

(1) That Ozma of Oz was the fairy ruler of the Emerald City and the Land of Ozand that she could not be destroyed by any magic ever devised. Also, by meansof her Magic Picture she would be able to discover anyone who approached herroyal palace with the idea of conquering it.

(2) That Glinda the Good was the most powerful Sorceress in Oz, among her othermagical possessions being the Great Book of Records, which told her all thathappened anywhere in the world. This Book of Records was very dangerous toUgu’s plans, and Glinda was in the service of Ozma and would use her arts ofsorcery to protect the girl Ruler.

(3) That the Wizard of Oz, who lived in Ozma’s palace, had been taught muchpowerful magic by Glinda and had a bag of magic tools with which he might beable to conquer the Shoemaker.

(4) That there existed in Oz—in the Yip Country—a jeweled dishpan made of gold,which dishpan would grow large enough for a man to sit inside it. Then, when hegrasped both the golden handles, the dishpan would transport him in an instantto any place he wished to go within the borders of the Land of Oz.

No one now living except Ugu knew of the powers of the Magic Dishpan, so afterlong study, the shoemaker decided that if he could manage to secure thedishpan, he could by its means rob Ozma and Glinda and the Wizard of Oz of alltheir magic, thus becoming himself the most powerful person in all the land.His first act was to go away from the City of Herku and build for himself theWicker Castle in the hills. Here he carried his books and instruments of magic,and here for a full year he diligently practiced all the magical arts learnedfrom his ancestors. At the end of that time, he could do a good many wonderfulthings.

Then, when all his preparations were made, he set out for the Yip Country, andclimbing the steep mountain at night he entered the house of Cayke the CookieCook and stole her diamond-studded gold dishpan while all the Yips were asleep,Taking his prize outside, he set the pan upon the ground and uttered therequired magic word. Instantly, the dishpan grew as large as a big washtub, andUgu seated himself in it and grasped the two handles. Then he wished himself inthe great drawing room of Glinda the Good.

He was there in a flash. First he took the Great Book of Records and put it inthe dishpan. Then he went to Glinda’s laboratory and took all her rare chemicalcompounds and her instruments of sorcery, placing these also in the dishpan,which he caused to grow large enough to hold them. Next he seated himselfamongst the treasures he had stolen and wished himself in the room in Ozma’spalace which the Wizard occupied and where he kept his bag of magic tools. Thisbag Ugu added to his plunder and then wished himself in the apartments of Ozma.

Here he first took the Magic Picture from the wall and then seized all theother magical things which Ozma possessed. Having placed these in the dishpan,he was about to climb in himself when he looked up and saw Ozma standing besidehim. Her fairy instinct had warned her that danger was threatening her, so thebeautiful girl Ruler rose from her couch and leaving her bedchamber at onceconfronted the thief.

Ugu had to think quickly, for he realized that if he permitted Ozma to rousethe inmates of her palace, all his plans and his present successes were likelyto come to naught. So he threw a scarf over the girl’s head so she could notscream, and pushed her into the dishpan and tied her fast so she could notmove. Then he climbed in beside her and wished himself in his own wickercastle. The Magic Dishpan was there in an instant, with all its contents, andUgu rubbed his hands together in triumphant joy as he realized that he nowpossessed all the important magic in the Land of Oz and could force all theinhabitants of that fairyland to do as he willed.

So quickly had his journey been accomplished that before daylight the robbermagician had locked Ozma in a room, making her a prisoner, and had unpacked andarranged all his stolen goods. The next day he placed the Book of Records onhis table and hung the Magic Picture on his wall and put away in his cupboardsand drawers all the elixirs and magic compounds he had stolen. The magicalinstruments he polished and arranged, and this was fascinating work and madehim very happy.

By turns the imprisoned Ruler wept and scolded the Shoemaker, haughtilythreatening him with dire punishment for the wicked deeds he had done. Ugubecame somewhat afraid of his fairy prisoner, in spite of the fact that hebelieved he had robbed her of all her powers; so he performed an enchantmentthat quickly disposed of her and placed her out of his sight and hearing. Afterthat, being occupied with other things, he soon forgot her.

But now, when he looked into the Magic Picture and read the Great Book ofRecords, the Shoemaker learned that his wickedness was not to go unchallenged.Two important expeditions had set out to find him and force him to give up hisstolen property. One was the party headed by the Wizard and Dorothy, while theother consisted of Cayke and the Frogman. Others were also searching, but notin the right places. These two groups, however, were headed straight for thewicker castle, and so Ugu began to plan how best to meet them and to defeattheir efforts to conquer him.

CHAPTER 20
MORE SURPRISES

All that first day after the union of the two parties, our friends marchedsteadily toward the wicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker. When night came, theycamped in a little grove and passed a pleasant evening together, although someof them were worried because Button-Bright was still lost.

“Perhaps,” said Toto as the animals lay grouped together for the night, “thisShoemaker who stole my growl and who stole Ozma has also stolen Button-Bright.”

“How do you know that the Shoemaker stole your growl?” demanded the Woozy.

“He has stolen about everything else of value in Oz, hasn’t he?” replied thedog.

“He has stolen everything he wants, perhaps,” agreed the Lion, “but what couldanyone want with your growl?”

“Well,” said the dog, wagging his tail slowly, “my recollection is that it wasa wonderful growl, soft and low and—and—”

“And ragged at the edges,” said the Sawhorse.

“So,” continued Toto, “if that magician hadn’t any growl of his own, he mighthave wanted mine and stolen it.”

“And if he has, he will soon wish he hadn’t,” remarked the Mule. “Also, if hehas stolen Button-Bright, he will be sorry.”

“Don’t you like Button-Bright, then?” asked the Lion in surprise.

“It isn’t a question of liking him,” replied the Mule. “It’s a question ofwatching him and looking after him. Any boy who causes his friends so muchworry isn’t worth having around. I never get lost.”

“If you did,” said Toto, “no one would worry a bit. I think Button-Bright is avery lucky boy because he always gets found.”

“See here,” said the Lion, “this chatter is keeping us all awake, and tomorrowis likely to be a busy day. Go to sleep and forget your quarrels.”

“Friend Lion,” retorted the dog, “if I hadn’t lost my growl, you would hear itnow. I have as much right to talk as you have to sleep.”

The Lion sighed.

“If only you had lost your voice when you lost your growl,” said he, “you wouldbe a more agreeable companion.”

But they quieted down after that, and soon the entire camp was wrapped inslumber. Next morning they made an early start, but had hardly proceeded ontheir way an hour when, on climbing a slight elevation, they beheld in thedistance a low mountain on top of which stood Ugu’s wicker castle. It was agood-sized building and rather pretty because the sides, roofs and domes wereall of wicker, closely woven as it is in fine baskets.

“I wonder if it is strong?” said Dorothy musingly as she eyed the queer castle.

“I suppose it is, since a magician built it,” answered the Wizard. “With magicto protect it, even a paper castle might be as strong as if made of stone. ThisUgu must be a man of ideas, because he does things in a different way fromother people.”

“Yes. No one else would steal our dear Ozma,” sighed tiny Trot.

“I wonder if Ozma is there?” said Betsy, indicating the castle with a nod ofher head.

“Where else could she be?” asked Scraps.

“Suppose we ask the Pink Bear,” suggested Dorothy.

That seemed a good idea, so they halted the procession, and the Bear King heldthe little Pink Bear on his lap and turned the crank in its side and asked,“Where is Ozma of Oz?”

And the little Pink Bear answered, “She is in a hole in the ground a half mileaway at your left.”

“Good gracious!” cried Dorothy.

“Then she is not in Ugu’s castle at all.”

“It is lucky we asked that question,” said the Wizard, “for if we can find Ozmaand rescue her, there will be no need for us to fight that wicked and dangerousmagician.”

“Indeed!” said Cayke. “Then what about my dishpan?”

The Wizard looked puzzled at her tone of remonstrance, so she added, “Didn’tyou people from the Emerald City promise that we would all stick together, andthat you would help me to get my dishpan if I would help you to get your Ozma?And didn’t I bring to you the little Pink Bear, which has told you where Ozmais hidden?”

“She’s right,” said Dorothy to the Wizard.

“We must do as we agreed.”

“Well, first of all, let us go and rescue Ozma,” proposed the Wizard. “Then ourbeloved Ruler may be able to advise us how to conquer Ugu the Shoemaker.” Sothey turned to the left and marched for half a mile until they came to a smallbut deep hole in the ground. At once, all rushed to the brim to peer into thehole, but instead of finding there Princess Ozma of Oz, all that they saw wasButton-Bright, who was lying asleep on the bottom.

Their cries soon wakened the boy, who sat up and rubbed his eyes. When herecognized his friends, he smiled sweetly, saying, “Found again!”

“Where is Ozma?” inquired Dorothy anxiously.

“I don’t know,” answered Button-Bright from the depths of the hole. “I got lostyesterday, as you may remember, and in the night while I was wandering aroundin the moonlight trying to find my way back to you, I suddenly fell into thishole.”

“And wasn’t Ozma in it then?”

“There was no one in it but me, and I was sorry it wasn’t entirely empty. Thesides are so steep I can’t climb out, so there was nothing to be done but sleepuntil someone found me. Thank you for coming. If you’ll please let down a rope,I’ll empty this hole in a hurry.”

“How strange!” said Dorothy, greatly disappointed.

“It’s evident the Pink Bear didn’t tell the truth.”

“He never makes a mistake,” declared the Lavender Bear King in a tone thatshowed his feelings were hurt. And then he turned the crank of the little PinkBear again and asked, “Is this the hole that Ozma of Oz is in?”

“Yes,” answered the Pink Bear.

“That settles it,” said the King positively. “Your Ozma is in this hole in theground.”

“Don’t be silly,” returned Dorothy impatiently. “Even your beady eyes can seethere is no one in the hole but Button-Bright.”

“Perhaps Button-Bright is Ozma,” suggested the King.

“And perhaps he isn’t! Ozma is a girl, and Button-Bright is a boy.”

“Your Pink Bear must be out of order,” said the Wizard, “for, this time atleast, his machinery has caused him to make an untrue statement.”

The Bear King was so angry at this remark that he turned away, holding the PinkBear in his paws, and refused to discuss the matter in any further way.

“At any rate,” said the Frogman, “the Pink Bear has led us to your boy friendand so enabled you to rescue him.”

Scraps was leaning so far over the hole trying to find Ozma in it that suddenlyshe lost her balance and pitched in head foremost. She fell upon Button-Brightand tumbled him over, but he was not hurt by her soft, stuffed body and onlylaughed at the mishap. The Wizard buckled some straps together and let one endof them down into the hole, and soon both Scraps and the boy had climbed up andwere standing safely beside the others. They looked once more for Ozma, but thehole was now absolutely vacant. It was a round hole, so from the top they couldplainly see every part of it. Before they left the place, Dorothy went to theBear King and said, “I’m sorry we couldn’t believe what the little Pink Bearsaid, ’cause we don’t want to make you feel bad by doubting him. There must bea mistake, somewhere, and we prob’ly don’t understand just what the little PinkBear said. Will you let me ask him one more question?”

The Lavender Bear King was a good-natured bear, considering how he was made andstuffed and jointed, so he accepted Dorothy’s apology and turned the crank andallowed the little girl to question his wee Pink Bear.

“Is Ozma REALLY in this hole?” asked Dorothy.

“No,” said the little Pink Bear.

This surprised everybody. Even the Bear King was now puzzled by thecontradictory statements of his oracle.

“Where IS she?” asked the King.

“Here, among you,” answered the little Pink Bear.

“Well,” said Dorothy, “this beats me entirely! I guess the little Pink Bear hasgone crazy.”

“Perhaps,” called Scraps, who was rapidly turning “cartwheels” all around theperplexed group, “Ozma is invisible.”

“Of course!” cried Betsy. “That would account for it.”

“Well, I’ve noticed that people can speak, even when they’ve been madeinvisible,” said the Wizard. And then he looked all around him and said in asolemn voice, “Ozma, are you here?”

There was no reply. Dorothy asked the question, too, and so did Button-Brightand Trot and Betsy, but none received any reply at all.

“It’s strange, it’s terrible strange!” muttered Cayke the Cookie Cook. “I wassure that the little Pink Bear always tells the truth.”

“I still believe in his honesty,” said the Frogman, and this tribute so pleasedthe Bear King that he gave these last speakers grateful looks, but still gazedsourly on the others.

“Come to think of it,” remarked the Wizard, “Ozma couldn’t be invisible, forshe is a fairy, and fairies cannot be made invisible against their will. Ofcourse, she could be imprisoned by the magician or enchanted or transformed, inspite of her fairy powers, but Ugu could not render her invisible by any magicat his command.”

“I wonder if she’s been transformed into Button-Bright?” said Dorothynervously. Then she looked steadily at the boy and asked, “Are you Ozma? Tellme truly!”

Button-Bright laughed.

“You’re getting rattled, Dorothy,” he replied. “Nothing ever enchants ME. If Iwere Ozma, do you think I’d have tumbled into that hole?”

“Anyhow,” said the Wizard, “Ozma would never try to deceive her friends orprevent them from recognizing her in whatever form she happened to be. Thepuzzle is still a puzzle, so let us go on to the wicker castle and question themagician himself. Since it was he who stole our Ozma, Ugu is the one who musttell us where to find her.”

CHAPTER 21
MAGIC AGAINST MAGIC

The Wizard’s advice was good, so again they started in the direction of the lowmountain on the crest of which the wicker castle had been built. They had beengradually advancing uphill, so now the elevation seemed to them more like around knoll than a mountaintop. However, the sides of the knoll were slopingand covered with green grass, so there was a stiff climb before them yet.

Undaunted, they plodded on and had almost reached the knoll when they suddenlyobserved that it was surrounded by a circle of flame. At first, the flamesbarely rose above the ground, but presently they grew higher and higher until acircle of flaming tongues of fire taller than any of their heads quitesurrounded the hill on which the wicker castle stood. When they approached theflames, the heat was so intense that it drove them back again.

“This will never do for me!” exclaimed the Patchwork Girl. “I catch fire veryeasily.”

“It won’t do for me either,” grumbled the Sawhorse, prancing to the rear.

“I also strongly object to fire,” said the Bear King, following the Sawhorse toa safe distance and hugging the little Pink Bear with his paws.

“I suppose the foolish Shoemaker imagines these blazes will stop us,” remarkedthe Wizard with a smile of scorn for Ugu. “But I am able to inform you thatthis is merely a simple magic trick which the robber stole from Glinda theGood, and by good fortune I know how to destroy these flames as well as how toproduce them. Will some one of you kindly give me a match?”

You may be sure the girls carried no matches, nor did the Frogman or any of theanimals. But Button-Bright, after searching carefully through his pockets,which contained all sorts of useful and useless things, finally produced amatch and handed it to the Wizard, who tied it to the end of a branch which hetore from a small tree growing near them. Then the little Wizard carefullylighted the match, and running forward thrust it into the nearest flame.Instantly, the circle of fire began to die away, and soon vanished completelyleaving the way clear for them to proceed.

“That was funny!” laughed Button-Bright.

“Yes,” agreed the Wizard, “it seems odd that a little match could destroy sucha great circle of fire, but when Glinda invented this trick, she believed noone would ever think of a match being a remedy for fire. I suppose even Ugudoesn’t know how we managed to quench the flames of his barrier, for onlyGlinda and I know the secret. Glinda’s Book of Magic which Ugu stole told howto make the flames, but not how to put them out.”

They now formed in marching order and proceeded to advance up the slope of thehill, but had not gone far when before them rose a wall of steel, the surfaceof which was thickly covered with sharp, gleaming points resembling daggers.The wall completely surrounded the wicker castle, and its sharp pointsprevented anyone from climbing it. Even the Patchwork Girl might be ripped topieces if she dared attempt it. “Ah!” exclaimed the Wizard cheerfully, “Ugu isnow using one of my own tricks against me. But this is more serious than theBarrier of Fire, because the only way to destroy the wall is to get on theother side of it.”

“How can that be done?” asked Dorothy.

The Wizard looked thoughtfully around his little party, and his face grewtroubled. “It’s a pretty high wall,” he sadly remarked. “I’m pretty sure theCowardly Lion could not leap over it.”

“I’m sure of that, too!” said the Lion with a shudder of fear. “If I foolishlytried such a leap, I would be caught on those dreadful spikes.”

“I think I could do it, sir,” said the Frogman with a bow to the Wizard. “It isan uphill jump as well as being a high jump, but I’m considered something of ajumper by my friends in the Yip Country, and I believe a good, strong leap willcarry me to the other side.”

“I’m sure it would,” agreed the Cookie Cook.

“Leaping, you know, is a froglike accomplishment,” continued the Frogmanmodestly, “but please tell me what I am to do when I reach the other side ofthe wall.”

“You’re a brave creature,” said the Wizard admiringly. “Has anyone a pin?”

Betsy had one, which she gave him. “All you need do,” said the Wizard to theFrogman, giving him the pin, “is to stick this into the other side of thewall.”

“But the wall is of steel!” exclaimed the big frog.

“I know. At least, it SEEMS to be steel, but do as I tell you. Stick the pininto the wall, and it will disappear.”

The Frogman took off his handsome coat and carefully folded it and laid it onthe grass. Then he removed his hat and laid it together with his gold-headedcane beside the coat. He then went back a way and made three powerful leaps inrapid succession. The first two leaps took him to the wall, and the third leapcarried him well over it, to the amazement of all. For a short time, hedisappeared from their view, but when he had obeyed the Wizard’s injunction andhad thrust the pin into the wall, the huge barrier vanished and showed them theform of the Frogman, who now went to where his coat lay and put it on again.

“We thank you very much,” said the delighted Wizard.

“That was the most wonderful leap I ever saw, and it has saved us from defeatby our enemy. Let us now hurry on to the castle before Ugu the Shoemaker thinksup some other means to stop us.”

“We must have surprised him so far,” declared Dorothy.

“Yes indeed. The fellow knows a lot of magic—all of our tricks and some of hisown,” replied the Wizard. “So if he is half as clever as he ought to be, weshall have trouble with him yet.”

He had scarcely spoken these words when out from the gates of the wicker castlemarched a regiment of soldiers, clad in gay uniforms and all bearing long,pointed spears and sharp battle axes. These soldiers were girls, and theuniforms were short skirts of yellow and black satin, golden shoes, bands ofgold across their foreheads and necklaces of glittering jewels. Their jacketswere scarlet, braided with silver cords. There were hundreds of thesegirl-soldiers, and they were more terrible than beautiful, being strong andfierce in appearance. They formed a circle all around the castle and facedoutward, their spears pointed toward the invaders, and their battle axes heldover their shoulders, ready to strike. Of course, our friends halted at once,for they had not expected this dreadful array of soldiery. The Wizard seemedpuzzled, and his companions exchanged discouraged looks.

“I’d no idea Ugu had such an army as that,” said Dorothy. “The castle doesn’tlook big enough to hold them all.”

“It isn’t,” declared the Wizard.

“But they all marched out of it.”

“They seemed to, but I don’t believe it is a real army at all. If Ugu theShoemaker had so many people living with him, I’m sure the Czarover of Herkuwould have mentioned the fact to us.”

“They’re only girls!” laughed Scraps.

“Girls are the fiercest soldiers of all,” declared the Frogman. “They are morebrave than men, and they have better nerves. That is probably why the magicianuses them for soldiers and has sent them to oppose us.”

No one argued this statement, for all were staring hard at the line ofsoldiers, which now, having taken a defiant position, remained motionless.

“Here is a trick of magic new to me,” admitted the Wizard after a time. “I donot believe the army is real, but the spears may be sharp enough to prick us,nevertheless, so we must be cautious. Let us take time to consider how to meetthis difficulty.”

While they were thinking it over, Scraps danced closer to the line of girlsoldiers. Her button eyes sometimes saw more than did the natural eyes of hercomrades, and so after staring hard at the magician’s army, she boldly advancedand danced right through the threatening line! On the other side, she waved herstuffed arms and called out, “Come on, folks. The spears can’t hurt you.” saidthe Wizard gaily. “An optical illusion, as I thought. Let us all follow thePatchwork Girl.” The three little girls were somewhat nervous in attempting tobrave the spears and battle axes, but after the others had safely passed theline, they ventured to follow. And when all had passed through the ranks of thegirl army, the army itself magically disappeared from view.

All this time our friends had been getting farther up the hill and nearer tothe wicker castle. Now, continuing their advance, they expected something elseto oppose their way, but to their astonishment nothing happened, and presentlythey arrived at the wicker gates, which stood wide open, and boldly entered thedomain of Ugu the Shoemaker.

CHAPTER 22
IN THE WICKER CASTLE

No sooner were the Wizard of Oz and his followers well within the castleentrance when the big gates swung to with a clang and heavy bars dropped acrossthem. They looked at one another uneasily, but no one cared to speak of theincident. If they were indeed prisoners in the wicker castle, it was evidentthey must find a way to escape, but their first duty was to attend to theerrand on which they had come and seek the Royal Ozma, whom they believed to bea prisoner of the magician, and rescue her.

They found they had entered a square courtyard, from which an entrance led intothe main building of the castle. No person had appeared to greet them so far,although a gaudy peacock perched upon the wall cackled with laughter and saidin its sharp, shrill voice, “Poor fools! Poor fools!”

“I hope the peacock is mistaken,” remarked the Frogman, but no one else paidany attention to the bird. They were a little awed by the stillness andloneliness of the place. As they entered the doors of the castle, which stoodinvitingly open, these also closed behind them and huge bolts shot into place.The animals had all accompanied the party into the castle because they felt itwould be dangerous for them to separate. They were forced to follow a zigzagpassage, turning this way and that, until finally they entered a great centralhall, circular in form and with a high dome from which was suspended anenormous chandelier.

The Wizard went first, and Dorothy, Betsy and Trot followed him, Toto keepingat the heels of his little mistress. Then came the Lion, the Woozy and theSawhorse, then Cayke the Cookie Cook and Button-Bright, then the Lavender Bearcarrying the Pink Bear, and finally the Frogman and the Patchwork Girl, withHank the Mule tagging behind. So it was the Wizard who caught the first glimpseof the big, domed hall, but the others quickly followed and gathered in awondering group just within the entrance.

Upon a raised platform at one side was a heavy table on which lay Glinda’sGreat Book of Records, but the platform was firmly fastened to the floor andthe table was fastened to the platform and the Book was chained fast to thetable, just as it had been when it was kept in Glinda’s palace. On the wallover the table hung Ozma’s Magic Picture. On a row of shelves at the oppositeside of the hall stood all the chemicals and essences of magic and all themagical instruments that had been stolen from Glinda and Ozma and the Wizard,with glass doors covering the shelves so that no one could get at them.

And in a far corner sat Ugu the Shoemaker, his feet lazily extended, his skinnyhands clasped behind his head. He was leaning back at his ease and calmlysmoking a long pipe. Around the magician was a sort of cage, seemingly made ofgolden bars set wide apart, and at his feet, also within the cage, reposed thelong-sought diamond-studded dishpan of Cayke the Cookie Cook. Princess Ozma ofOz was nowhere to be seen.

“Well, well,” said Ugu when the invaders had stood in silence for a moment,staring about them. “This visit is an unexpected pleasure, I assure you. I knewyou were coming, and I know why you are here. You are not welcome, for I cannotuse any of you to my advantage, but as you have insisted on coming, I hope youwill make the afternoon call as brief as possible. It won’t take long totransact your business with me. You will ask me for Ozma, and my reply will bethat you may find her—if you can.”

“Sir,” answered the Wizard in a tone of rebuke, “you are a very wicked andcruel person. I suppose you imagine, because you have stolen this poor woman’sdishpan and all the best magic in Oz, that you are more powerful than we areand will be able to triumph over us.”

“Yes,” said Ugu the Shoemaker, slowly filling his pipe with fresh tobacco froma silver bowl that stood beside him, “that is exactly what I imagine. It willdo you no good to demand from me the girl who was formerly the Ruler of Oz,because I will not tell you where I have hidden her, and you can’t guess in athousand years. Neither will I restore to you any of the magic I have captured.I am not so foolish. But bear this in mind: I mean to be the Ruler of Ozmyself, hereafter, so I advise you to be careful how you address your futureMonarch.”

“Ozma is still Ruler of Oz, wherever you may have hidden her,” declared theWizard. “And bear this in mind, miserable Shoemaker: we intend to find her andto rescue her in time, but our first duty and pleasure will be to conquer youand then punish you for your misdeeds.”

“Very well, go ahead and conquer,” said Ugu. “I’d really like to see how youcan do it.”

Now although the little Wizard had spoken so boldly, he had at the moment noidea how they might conquer the magician. He had that morning given theFrogman, at his request, a dose of zosozo from his bottle, and the Frogman hadpromised to fight a good fight if it was necessary, but the Wizard knew thatstrength alone could not avail against magical arts. The toy Bear King seemedto have some pretty good magic, however, and the Wizard depended to an extenton that. But something ought to be done right away, and the Wizard didn’t knowwhat it was.

While he considered this perplexing question and the others stood looking athim as their leader, a queer thing happened. The floor of the great circularhall on which they were standing suddenly began to tip. Instead of being flatand level, it became a slant, and the slant grew steeper and steeper until noneof the party could manage to stand upon it. Presently they all slid down to thewall, which was now under them, and then it became evident that the whole vastroom was slowly turning upside down! Only Ugu the Shoemaker, kept in place bythe bars of his golden cage, remained in his former position, and the wickedmagician seemed to enjoy the surprise of his victims immensely.

First they all slid down to the wall back of them, but as the room continued toturn over, they next slid down the wall and found themselves at the bottom ofthe great dome, bumping against the big chandelier which, like everything else,was now upside down. The turning movement now stopped, and the room becamestationary. Looking far up, they saw Ugu suspended in his cage at the very top,which had once been the floor.

“Ah,” said he, grinning down at them, “the way to conquer is to act, and he whoacts promptly is sure to win. This makes a very good prison, from which I amsure you cannot escape. Please amuse yourselves in any way you like, but I mustbeg you to excuse me, as I have business in another part of my castle.”

Saying this, he opened a trap door in the floor of his cage (which was now overhis head) and climbed through it and disappeared from their view. The diamonddishpan still remained in the cage, but the bars kept it from falling down ontheir heads.

“Well, I declare,” said the Patchwork Girl, seizing one of the bars of thechandelier and swinging from it, “we must peg one for the Shoemaker, for he hastrapped us very cleverly.”

“Get off my foot, please,” said the Lion to the Sawhorse.

“And oblige me, Mr. Mule,” remarked the Woozy, “by taking your tail out of myleft eye.”

“It’s rather crowded down here,” explained Dorothy, “because the dome isrounding and we have all slid into the middle of it. But let us keep as quietas possible until we can think what’s best to be done.”

“Dear, dear!” wailed Cayke, “I wish I had my darling dishpan,” and she held herarms longingly toward it.

“I wish I had the magic on those shelves up there,” sighed the Wizard.

“Don’t you s’pose we could get to it?” asked Trot anxiously.

“We’d have to fly,” laughed the Patchwork Girl.

But the Wizard took the suggestion seriously, and so did the Frogman. Theytalked it over and soon planned an attempt to reach the shelves where themagical instruments were. First the Frogman lay against the rounding dome andbraced his foot on the stem of the chandelier; then the Wizard climbed over himand lay on the dome with his feet on the Frogman’s shoulders; the Cookie Cookcame next; then Button-Bright climbed to the woman’s shoulders; then Dorothyclimbed up and Betsy and Trot, and finally the Patchwork Girl, and all theirlengths made a long line that reached far up the dome, but not far enough forScraps to touch the shelves.

“Wait a minute. Perhaps I can reach the magic,” called the Bear King, and beganscrambling up the bodies of the others. But when he came to the Cookie Cook,his soft paws tickled her side so that she squirmed and upset the whole line.Down they came, tumbling in a heap against the animals, and although no one wasmuch hurt, it was a bad mix-up, and the Frogman, who was at the bottom, almostlost his temper before he could get on his feet again.

Cayke positively refused to try what she called “the pyramid act” again, and asthe Wizard was now convinced they could not reach the magic tools in thatmanner, the attempt was abandoned. “But SOMETHING must be done,” said theWizard, and then he turned to the Lavender Bear and asked, “Cannot YourMajesty’s magic help us to escape from here?”

“My magic powers are limited,” was the reply. “When I was stuffed, the fairiesstood by and slyly dropped some magic into my stuffing. Therefore I can do anyof the magic that’s inside me, but nothing else. You, however, are a wizard,and a wizard should be able to do anything.”

“Your Majesty forgets that my tools of magic have been stolen,” said the Wizardsadly, “and a wizard without tools is as helpless as a carpenter without ahammer or saw.”

“Don’t give up,” pleaded Button-Bright, “’cause if we can’t get out of thisqueer prison, we’ll all starve to death.”

“Not I!” laughed the Patchwork Girl, now standing on top of the chandelier atthe place that was meant to be the bottom of it.

“Don’t talk of such dreadful things,” said Trot, shuddering. “We came here tocapture the Shoemaker, didn’t we?”

“Yes, and to save Ozma,” said Betsy.

“And here we are, captured ourselves, and my darling dishpan up there in plainsight!” wailed the Cookie Cook, wiping her eyes on the tail of the Frogman’scoat.

“Hush!” called the Lion with a low, deep growl. “Give the Wizard time tothink.”

“He has plenty of time,” said Scraps. “What he needs is the Scarecrow’sbrains.”

After all, it was little Dorothy who came to their rescue, and her ability tosave them was almost as much a surprise to the girl as it was to her friends.Dorothy had been secretly testing the powers of her Magic Belt, which she hadonce captured from the Nome King, and experimenting with it in various waysever since she had started on this eventful journey. At different times she hadstolen away from the others of her party and in solitude had tried to find outwhat the Magic Belt could do and what it could not do. There were a lot ofthings it could not do, she discovered, but she learned some things about theBelt which even her girl friends did not suspect she knew.

For one thing, she had remembered that when the Nome King owned it, the MagicBelt used to perform transformations, and by thinking hard she had finallyrecalled the way in which such transformations had been accomplished. Betterthan this, however, was the discovery that the Magic Belt would grant itswearer one wish a day. All she need do was close her right eye and wiggle herleft toe and then draw a long breath and make her wish. Yesterday she hadwished in secret for a box of caramels, and instantly found the box beside her.Today she had saved her daily wish in case she might need it in an emergency,and the time had now come when she must use the wish to enable her to escapewith her friends from the prison in which Ugu had caught them.

So without telling anyone what she intended to do—for she had only used thewish once and could not be certain how powerful the Magic Belt might be—Dorothyclosed her right eye and wiggled her left big toe and drew a long breath andwished with all her might. The next moment the room began to revolve again, asslowly as before, and by degrees they all slid to the side wall and down thewall to the floor—all but Scraps, who was so astonished that she still clung tothe chandelier. When the big hall was in its proper position again and theothers stood firmly upon the floor of it, they looked far up the dome and sawthe Patchwork girl swinging from the chandelier.

“Good gracious!” cried Dorothy. “How ever will you get down?”

“Won’t the room keep turning?” asked Scraps.

“I hope not. I believe it has stopped for good,” said Princess Dorothy.

“Then stand from under, so you won’t get hurt!” shouted the Patchwork Girl, andas soon as they had obeyed this request, she let go the chandelier and cametumbling down heels over head and twisting and turning in a very excitingmanner. Plump! She fell on the tiled floor, and they ran to her and rolled herand patted her into shape again.

CHAPTER 23
THE DEFIANCE OF UGU THE SHOEMAKER

The delay caused by Scraps had prevented anyone from running to the shelves tosecure the magic instruments so badly needed. Even Cayke neglected to get herdiamond-studded dishpan because she was watching the Patchwork Girl. And nowthe magician had opened his trap door and appeared in his golden cage again,frowning angrily because his prisoners had been able to turn their upside-downprison right side up. “Which of you has dared defy my magic?” he shouted in aterrible voice.

“It was I,” answered Dorothy calmly.

“Then I shall destroy you, for you are only an Earth girl and no fairy,” hesaid, and began to mumble some magic words.

Dorothy now realized that Ugu must be treated as an enemy, so she advancedtoward the corner in which he sat, saying as she went, “I am not afraid of you,Mr. Shoemaker, and I think you’ll be sorry, pretty soon, that you’re such a badman. You can’t destroy me, and I won’t destroy you, but I’m going to punish youfor your wickedness.”

Ugu laughed, a laugh that was not nice to hear, and then he waved his hand.Dorothy was halfway across the room when suddenly a wall of glass rose beforeher and stopped her progress. Through the glass she could see the magiciansneering at her because she was a weak little girl, and this provoked her.Although the glass wall obliged her to halt, she instantly pressed both handsto her Magic Belt and cried in a loud voice, “Ugu the Shoemaker, by the magicvirtues of the Magic Belt, I command you to become a dove!”

The magician instantly realized he was being enchanted, for he could feel hisform changing. He struggled desperately against the enchantment, mumbling magicwords and making magic passes with his hands. And in one way he succeeded indefeating Dorothy’s purpose, for while his form soon changed to that of a graydove, the dove was of an enormous size, bigger even than Ugu had been as a man,and this feat he had been able to accomplish before his powers of magic whollydeserted him.

And the dove was not gentle, as doves usually are, for Ugu was terribly enragedat the little girl’s success. His books had told him nothing of the Nome King’sMagic Belt, the Country of the Nomes being outside the Land of Oz. He knew,however, that he was likely to be conquered unless he made a fierce fight, sohe spread his wings and rose in the air and flew directly toward Dorothy. TheWall of Glass had disappeared the instant Ugu became transformed.

Dorothy had meant to command the Belt to transform the magician into a Dove ofPeace, but in her excitement she forgot to say more than “dove,” and now Uguwas not a Dove of Peace by any means, but rather a spiteful Dove of War. Hissize made his sharp beak and claws very dangerous, but Dorothy was not afraidwhen he came darting toward her with his talons outstretched and his sword-likebeak open. She knew the Magic Belt would protect its wearer from harm.

But the Frogman did not know that fact and became alarmed at the little girl’sseeming danger. So he gave a sudden leap and leaped full upon the back of thegreat dove. Then began a desperate struggle. The dove was as strong as Ugu hadbeen, and in size it was considerably bigger than the Frogman. But the Frogmanhad eaten the zosozo, and it had made him fully as strong as Ugu the Dove. Atthe first leap he bore the dove to the floor, but the giant bird got free andbegan to bite and claw the Frogman, beating him down with its great wingswhenever he attempted to rise. The thick, tough skin of the big frog was noteasily damaged, but Dorothy feared for her champion, and by again using thetransformation power of the Magic Belt, she made the dove grow small until itwas no larger than a canary bird. Ugu had not lost his knowledge of magic whenhe lost his shape as a man, and he now realized it was hopeless to oppose thepower of the Magic Belt and knew that his only hope of escape lay in instantaction. So he quickly flew into the golden jeweled dishpan he had stolen fromCayke the Cookie Cook, and as birds can talk as well as beasts or men in theFairyland of Oz, he muttered the magic word that was required and wishedhimself in the Country of the Quadlings, which was as far away from the wickercastle as he believed he could get.

Our friends did not know, of course, what Ugu was about to do. They saw thedishpan tremble an instant and then disappear, the dove disappearing with it,and although they waited expectantly for some minutes for the magician’sreturn, Ugu did not come back again. “Seems to me,” said the Wizard in acheerful voice, “that we have conquered the wicked magician more quickly thanwe expected to.”

“Don’t say ‘we.’ Dorothy did it!” cried the Patchwork Girl, turning threesomersaults in succession and then walking around on her hands. “Hurrah forDorothy!”

“I thought you said you did not know how to use the magic of the Nome King’sBelt,” said the Wizard to Dorothy.

“I didn’t know at that time,” she replied, “but afterward I remembered how theNome King once used the Magic Belt to enchant people and transform ’em intoornaments and all sorts of things, so I tried some enchantments in secret, andafter a while I transformed the Sawhorse into a potato masher and back again,and the Cowardly Lion into a pussycat and back again, and then I knew the thingwould work all right.”

“When did you perform those enchantments?” asked the Wizard, much surprised.

“One night when all the rest of you were asleep but Scraps, and she had gonechasing moonbeams.”

“Well,” remarked the Wizard, “your discovery has certainly saved us a lot oftrouble, and we must all thank the Frogman, too, for making such a good fight.The dove’s shape had Ugu’s evil disposition inside it, and that made themonster bird dangerous.”

The Frogman was looking sad because the bird’s talons had torn his prettyclothes, but he bowed with much dignity at this well-deserved praise. Cayke,however, had squatted on the floor and was sobbing bitterly. “My preciousdishpan is gone!” she wailed. “Gone, just as I had found it again!”

“Never mind,” said Trot, trying to comfort her, “it’s sure to be SOMEWHERE, sowe’ll cert’nly run across it some day.”

“Yes indeed,” added Betsy, “now that we have Ozma’s Magic Picture, we can telljust where the Dove went with your dishpan. They all approached the MagicPicture, and Dorothy wished it to show the enchanted form of Ugu the Shoemaker,wherever it might be. At once there appeared in the frame of the Picture ascene in the far Quadling Country, where the Dove was perched disconsolately onthe limb of a tree and the jeweled dishpan lay on the ground just underneaththe limb.

“But where is the place? How far or how near?” asked Cayke anxiously.

“The Book of Records will tell us that,” answered the Wizard. So they looked inthe Great Book and read the following:

“Ugu the Magician, being transformed into a dove by Princess Dorothy of Oz, hasused the magic of the golden dishpan to carry him instantly to the northeastcorner of the Quadling Country.”

“Don’t worry, Cayke, for the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman are in that part ofthe country looking for Ozma, and they’ll surely find your dishpan.”

“Good gracious!” exclaimed Button-Bright. “We’ve forgot all about Ozma. Let’sfind out where the magician hid her.”

Back to the Magic Picture they trooped, but when they wished to see Ozmawherever she might be hidden, only a round black spot appeared in the center ofthe canvas. “I don’t see how THAT can be Ozma!” said Dorothy, much puzzled.

“It seems to be the best the Magic Picture can do, however,” said the Wizard,no less surprised. “If it’s an enchantment, looks as if the magician hadtransformed Ozma into a chunk of pitch.”

CHAPTER 24
THE LITTLE PINK BEAR SPEAKS TRULY

For several minutes they all stood staring at the black spot on the canvas ofthe Magic Picture, wondering what it could mean. “P’r’aps we’d better ask thelittle Pink Bear about Ozma,” suggested Trot.

“Pshaw!” said Button-Bright. “HE don’t know anything.”

“He never makes a mistake,” declared the King.

“He did once, surely,” said Betsy. “But perhaps he wouldn’t make a mistakeagain.”

“He won’t have the chance,” grumbled the Bear King.

“We might hear what he has to say,” said Dorothy. “It won’t do any harm to askthe Pink Bear where Ozma is.”

“I will not have him questioned,” declared the King in a surly voice. “I do notintend to allow my little Pink Bear to be again insulted by your foolishdoubts. He never makes a mistake.”

“Didn’t he say Ozma was in that hole in the ground?” asked Betsy.

“He did, and I am certain she was there,” replied the Lavender Bear.

Scraps laughed jeeringly, and the others saw there was no use arguing with thestubborn Bear King, who seemed to have absolute faith in his Pink Bear. TheWizard, who knew that magical things can usually be depended upon and that thelittle Pink Bear was able to answer questions by some remarkable power ofmagic, thought it wise to apologize to the Lavender Bear for the unbelief ofhis friends, at the same time urging the King to consent to question the PinkBear once more. Cayke and the Frogman also pleaded with the big Bear, whofinally agreed, although rather ungraciously, to put the little Bear’s wisdomto the test once more. So he sat the little one on his knee and turned thecrank, and the Wizard himself asked the questions in a very respectful tone ofvoice. “Where is Ozma?” was his first query.

“Here in this room,” answered the little Pink Bear.

They all looked around the room, but of course did not see her. “In what partof the room is she?” was the Wizard’s next question.

“In Button-Bright’s pocket,” said the little Pink Bear.

This reply amazed them all, you may be sure, and although the three girlssmiled and Scraps yelled “Hoo-ray!” in derision, the Wizard turned to considerthe matter with grave thoughtfulness. “In which one of Button-Bright’s pocketsis Ozma?” he presently inquired.

“In the left-hand jacket pocket,” said the little Pink Bear.

“The pink one has gone crazy!” exclaimed Button-Bright, staring hard at thelittle bear on the big bear’s knee.

“I am not so sure of that,” declared the Wizard. “If Ozma proves to be reallyin your pocket, then the little Pink Bear spoke truly when he said Ozma was inthat hole in the ground. For at that time you were also in the hole, and afterwe had pulled you out of it, the little Pink Bear said Ozma was not in thehole.”

“He never makes a mistake,” asserted the Bear King stoutly.

“Empty that pocket, Button-Bright, and let’s see what’s in it,” requestedDorothy.

So Button-Bright laid the contents of his left jacket pocket on the table.These proved to be a peg top, a bunch of string, a small rubber ball and agolden peach pit. “What’s this?” asked the Wizard, picking up the peach pit andexamining it closely.

“Oh,” said the boy, “I saved that to show to the girls, and then forgot allabout it. It came out of a lonesome peach that I found in the orchard backyonder, and which I ate while I was lost. It looks like gold, and I never saw apeach pit like it before.”

“Nor I,” said the Wizard, “and that makes it seem suspicious.”

All heads were bent over the golden peach pit. The Wizard turned it overseveral times and then took out his pocket knife and pried the pit open. As thetwo halves fell apart, a pink, cloud-like haze came pouring from the goldenpeach pit, almost filling the big room, and from the haze a form took shape andsettled beside them. Then, as the haze faded away, a sweet voice said, “Thankyou, my friends!” and there before them stood their lovely girl Ruler, Ozma ofOz.

With a cry of delight, Dorothy rushed forward and embraced her. Scraps turnedgleeful flipflops all around the room. Button-Bright gave a low whistle ofastonishment. The Frogman took off his tall hat and bowed low before thebeautiful girl who had been freed from her enchantment in so startling amanner. For a time, no sound was heard beyond the low murmur of delight thatcame from the amazed group, but presently the growl of the big Lavender Beargrew louder, and he said in a tone of triumph, “He never makes a mistake!”

CHAPTER 25
OZMA OF OZ

“It’s funny,” said Toto, standing before his friend the Lion and wagging histail, “but I’ve found my growl at last! I am positive now that it was the cruelmagician who stole it.”

“Let’s hear your growl,” requested the Lion.

“G-r-r-r-r-r!” said Toto.

“That is fine,” declared the big beast. “It isn’t as loud or as deep as thegrowl of the big Lavender Bear, but it is a very respectable growl for a smalldog. Where did you find it, Toto?”

“I was smelling in the corner yonder,” said Toto, “when suddenly a mouse ranout—and I growled.”

The others were all busy congratulating Ozma, who was very happy at beingreleased from the confinement of the golden peach pit, where the magician hadplaced her with the notion that she never could be found or liberated.

“And only to think,” cried Dorothy, “that Button-Bright has been carrying youin his pocket all this time, and we never knew it!”

“The little Pink Bear told you,” said the Bear King, “but you wouldn’t believehim.”

“Never mind, my dears,” said Ozma graciously, “all is well that ends well, andyou couldn’t be expected to know I was inside the peach pit. Indeed, I feared Iwould remain a captive much longer than I did, for Ugu is a bold and clevermagician, and he had hidden me very securely.”

“You were in a fine peach,” said Button-Bright, “the best I ever ate.”

“The magician was foolish to make the peach so tempting,” remarked the Wizard,“but Ozma would lend beauty to any transformation.”

“How did you manage to conquer Ugu the Shoemaker?” inquired the girl Ruler ofOz.

Dorothy started to tell the story, and Trot helped her, and Button-Brightwanted to relate it in his own way, and the Wizard tried to make it clear toOzma, and Betsy had to remind them of important things they left out, and alltogether there was such a chatter that it was a wonder that Ozma understood anyof it. But she listened patiently, with a smile on her lovely face at theireagerness, and presently had gleaned all the details of their adventures.

Ozma thanked the Frogman very earnestly for his assistance, and she advisedCayke the Cookie Cook to dry her weeping eyes, for she promised to take her tothe Emerald City and see that her cherished dishpan was restored to her. Thenthe beautiful Ruler took a chain of emeralds from around her own neck andplaced it around the neck of the little Pink Bear.

“Your wise answers to the questions of my friends,” said she, “helped them torescue me. Therefore I am deeply grateful to you and to your noble King.”

The bead eyes of the little Pink Bear stared unresponsive to this praise untilthe Big Lavender Bear turned the crank in its side, when it said in its squeakyvoice, “I thank Your Majesty.”

“For my part,” returned the Bear King, “I realize that you were well worthsaving, Miss Ozma, and so I am much pleased that we could be of service to you.By means of my Magic Wand I have been creating exact images of your EmeraldCity and your Royal Palace, and I must confess that they are more attractivethan any places I have ever seen—not excepting Bear Center.”

“I would like to entertain you in my palace,” returned Ozma sweetly, “and youare welcome to return with me and to make me a long visit, if your bearsubjects can spare you from your own kingdom.”

“As for that,” answered the King, “my kingdom causes me little worry, and Ioften find it somewhat tame and uninteresting. Therefore I am glad to acceptyour kind invitation. Corporal Waddle may be trusted to care for my bears in myabsence.”

“And you’ll bring the little Pink Bear?” asked Dorothy eagerly.

“Of course, my dear. I would not willingly part with him.”

They remained in the wicker castle for three days, carefully packing all themagical things that had been stolen by Ugu and also taking whatever in the wayof magic the shoemaker had inherited from his ancestors. “For,” said Ozma, “Ihave forbidden any of my subjects except Glinda the Good and the Wizard of Ozto practice magical arts, because they cannot be trusted to do good and notharm. Therefore Ugu must never again be permitted to work magic of any sort.”

“Well,” remarked Dorothy cheerfully, “a dove can’t do much in the way of magic,anyhow, and I’m going to keep Ugu in the form of a dove until he reforms andbecomes a good and honest shoemaker.”

When everything was packed and loaded on the backs of the animals, they set outfor the river, taking a more direct route than that by which Cayke and theFrogman had come. In this way they avoided the Cities of Thi and Herku and BearCenter and after a pleasant journey reached the Winkie River and found a jollyferryman who had a fine, big boat and was willing to carry the entire party bywater to a place quite near to the Emerald City.

The river had many windings and many branches, and the journey did not end in aday, but finally the boat floated into a pretty lake which was but a shortdistance from Ozma’s home. Here the jolly ferryman was rewarded for his labors,and then the entire party set out in a grand procession to march to the EmeraldCity. News that the Royal Ozma had been found spread quickly throughout theneighborhood, and both sides of the road soon became lined with loyal subjectsof the beautiful and beloved Ruler. Therefore Ozma’s ears heard little butcheers, and her eyes beheld little else than waving handkerchiefs and bannersduring all the triumphal march from the lake to the city’s gates.

And there she met a still greater concourse, for all the inhabitants of theEmerald City turned out to welcome her return, and all the houses weredecorated with flags and bunting, and never before were the people so joyousand happy as at this moment when they welcomed home their girl Ruler. For shehad been lost and was now found again, and surely that was cause for rejoicing.Glinda was at the royal palace to meet the returning party, and the goodSorceress was indeed glad to have her Great Book of Records returned to her, aswell as all the precious collection of magic instruments and elixirs andchemicals that had been stolen from her castle. Cap’n Bill and the Wizard atonce hung the Magic Picture upon the wall of Ozma’s boudoir, and the Wizard wasso light-hearted that he did several tricks with the tools in his black bag toamuse his companions and prove that once again he was a powerful wizard.

For a whole week there was feasting and merriment and all sorts of joyousfestivities at the palace in honor of Ozma’s safe return. The Lavender Bear andthe little Pink Bear received much attention and were honored by all, much tothe Bear King’s satisfaction. The Frogman speedily became a favorite at theEmerald City, and the Shaggy Man and Tik-Tok and Jack Pumpkinhead, who had nowreturned from their search, were very polite to the big frog and made him feelquite at home. Even the Cookie Cook, because she was quite a stranger andOzma’s guest, was shown as much deference as if she had been a queen.

“All the same, Your Majesty,” said Cayke to Ozma, day after day with tiresomerepetition, “I hope you will soon find my jeweled dishpan, for never can I bequite happy without it.”

CHAPTER 26
DOROTHY FORGIVES

The gray dove which had once been Ugu the Shoemaker sat on its tree in the farQuadling Country and moped, chirping dismally and brooding over itsmisfortunes. After a time, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman came along and satbeneath the tree, paying no heed to the mutterings of the gray dove. The TinWoodman took a small oilcan from his tin pocket and carefully oiled his tinjoints with it.

While he was thus engaged, the Scarecrow remarked, “I feel much better, dearcomrade, since we found that heap of nice, clean straw and you stuffed me anewwith it.”

“And I feel much better now that my joints are oiled,” returned the Tin Woodmanwith a sigh of pleasure. “You and I, friend Scarecrow, are much more easilycared for than those clumsy meat people, who spend half their time dressing infine clothes and who must live in splendid dwellings in order to be contentedand happy. You and I do not eat, and so we are spared the dreadful bother ofgetting three meals a day. Nor do we waste half our lives in sleep, a conditionthat causes the meat people to lose all consciousness and become as thoughtlessand helpless as logs of wood.”

“You speak truly,” responded the Scarecrow, tucking some wisps of straw intohis breast with his padded fingers. “I often feel sorry for the meat people,many of whom are my friends. Even the beasts are happier than they, for theyrequire less to make them content. And the birds are the luckiest creatures ofall, for they can fly swiftly where they will and find a home at any place theycare to perch. Their food consists of seeds and grains they gather from thefields, and their drink is a sip of water from some running brook. If I couldnot be a Scarecrow or a Tin Woodman, my next choice would be to live as a birddoes.”

The gray dove had listened carefully to this speech and seemed to find comfortin it, for it hushed its moaning. And just then the Tin Woodman discoveredCayke’s dishpan, which was on the ground quite near to him. “Here is a ratherpretty utensil,” he said, taking it in his tin hand to examine it, “but I wouldnot care to own it. Whoever fashioned it of gold and covered it with diamondsdid not add to its usefulness, nor do I consider it as beautiful as the brightdishpans of tin one usually sees. No yellow color is ever so handsome as thesilver sheen of tin,” and he turned to look at his tin legs and body withapproval.

“I cannot quite agree with you there,” replied the Scarecrow. “My strawstuffing has a light yellow color, and it is not only pretty to look at, but itcrunkles most delightfully when I move.”

“Let us admit that all colors are good in their proper places,” said the TinWoodman, who was too kind-hearted to quarrel, “but you must agree with me thata dishpan that is yellow is unnatural. What shall we do with this one, which wehave just found?”

“Let us carry it back to the Emerald City,” suggested the Scarecrow. “Some ofour friends might like to have it for a foot-bath, and in using it that way,its golden color and sparkling ornaments would not injure its usefulness.”

So they went away and took the jeweled dishpan with them. And after wanderingthrough the country for a day or so longer, they learned the news that Ozma hadbeen found. Therefore they straightway returned to the Emerald City andpresented the dishpan to Princess Ozma as a token of their joy that she hadbeen restored to them. Ozma promptly gave the diamond-studded gold dishpan toCayke the Cookie Cook, who was delighted at regaining her lost treasure thatshe danced up and down in glee and then threw her skinny arms around Ozma’sneck and kissed her gratefully. Cayke’s mission was now successfullyaccomplished, but she was having such a good time at the Emerald City that sheseemed in no hurry to go back to the Country of the Yips.

It was several weeks after the dishpan had been restored to the Cookie Cookwhen one day, as Dorothy was seated in the royal gardens with Trot and Betsybeside her, a gray dove came flying down and alighted at the girl’s feet.

“I am Ugu the Shoemaker,” said the dove in a soft, mourning voice, “and I havecome to ask you to forgive me for the great wrong I did in stealing Ozma andthe magic that belonged to her and to others.”

“Are you sorry, then?” asked Dorothy, looking hard at the bird.

“I am VERY sorry,” declared Ugu. “I’ve been thinking over my misdeeds for along time, for doves have little else to do but think, and I’m surprised that Iwas such a wicked man and had so little regard for the rights of others. I amnow convinced that even had I succeeded in making myself ruler of all Oz, Ishould not have been happy, for many days of quiet thought have shown me thatonly those things one acquires honestly are able to render one content.”

“I guess that’s so,” said Trot.

“Anyhow,” said Betsy, “the bad man seems truly sorry, and if he has now becomea good and honest man, we ought to forgive him.”

“I fear I cannot become a good MAN again,” said Ugu, “for the transformation Iam under will always keep me in the form of a dove. But with the kindforgiveness of my former enemies, I hope to become a very good dove and highlyrespected.”

“Wait here till I run for my Magic Belt,” said Dorothy, “and I’ll transform youback to your reg’lar shape in a jiffy.”

“No, don’t do that!” pleaded the dove, fluttering its wings in an excited way.“I only want your forgiveness. I don’t want to be a man again. As Ugu theShoemaker I was skinny and old and unlovely. As a dove I am quite pretty tolook at. As a man I was ambitious and cruel, while as a dove I can be contentwith my lot and happy in my simple life. I have learned to love the free andindependent life of a bird, and I’d rather not change back.”

“Just as you like, Ugu,” said Dorothy, resuming her seat. “Perhaps you areright, for you’re certainly a better dove than you were a man, and if youshould ever backslide an’ feel wicked again, you couldn’t do much harm as agray dove.”

“Then you forgive me for all the trouble I caused you?” he asked earnestly.

“Of course. Anyone who’s sorry just has to be forgiven.”

“Thank you,” said the gray dove, and flew away again.

THE END

The Wonderful Oz Books by L. Frank Baum

The Wizard of Oz
The Land of Oz
Ozma of Oz
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
The Road to Oz
The Emerald City of Oz
The Patchwork Girl of Oz
Tik-Tok of Oz
The Scarecrow of Oz
Rinkitink in Oz
The Lost Princess of Oz
The Tin Woodman of Oz
The Magic of Oz
Glinda of Oz

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